A Destiny That Binds
by Alli-dunno
Summary: OoT Novelization... After divine intervention and a chance encounter in the forest, a random group of kids find themselves thrown together with the fate of the world in their hands. Randomness, sarcasm and world-saving ensue.
1. And so it begins

**A****/n: **Okay, so here I am with the brand, spanking new revised new chapter. HOORAY. I decided to bring all my chapters up-to-par, since I wrote a lot of this while I was still in high school (the story started when I was a freshman. How measly my writing skills were back then.)

This is just a crossover story for those who care. Ya know. Because I'm awesome like that…Right. On with the revising!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. At all. So don't ask.

**Chapter 1: And so it begins…**

_On the streets of a random city…._

"Well, that sucked." Yusuke said, wiping the sweat of his brow.

"That would have gone more smoothly if that idiot over there hadn't gotten in the way." Hiei huffed, clearly annoyed at everything around him.

"Hey, who are you referring to, half-pint?" Kuwabara turned around, waving his fist in Hiei's face; the little demon was clearly not amused.

"Who do you think?" Hiei asked bluntly, since the answer was obvious.

"I'm not even going to attempt this time around." Kurama stood off to the side. He shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands in his pockets, tuning out the arguing of his teammates.

"Whatever." Yusuke pulled out a communicator. "I'm going to call Koenma and give him the update."

"Yes." Kurama said off-handedly. He blindly watched his teammates' antics with little interest. It was not fun to be interrupted on a day off with a dire mission to eliminate stray demons, after all. Even Kurama in all his seemingly endless patience was a little off-put by it. Besides, his place as voice of reason wasn't enough to keep Hiei and Kuwabara from biting each other's heads off about trivial matters. Letting out a deep sigh, the young man leaned against a wall, fully tuning out what was going on at that point.

_Something just feels off. And I can't place my finger on what it is, but something is definitely going to happen. _Kurama thought to himself, tapping his chin thoughtfully as he did so. Kurama's intuition was never wrong-everything he usually sensed was spot-on. That was why he was the brains of the party, after all.

His thoughts remained fast until something caught his eye from an alleyway. Turning around completely to see what it was, Kurama found himself staring at a glowing, green orb. Suddenly, he felt numbness wash over his mind. Without any logical reason, Kurama went forward towards the orb, as if something was calling him to it. _Why am I…? _Kurama's thoughts trailed off as he approached glowing object.

"Kurama?" Yusuke turned, shutting his communicator. Hiei and Kuwabara paused in their fighting, turning to see what was wrong with their companion. Kurama seemed to be unaware of their presence.

Kurama merely stared down at the green orb, his eyes glazed over. Another long second passed before he reached out and placed his hand on the orb, causing a massive eruption of green light. In the midst of it all, Kurama felt a heavenly voice, beautiful like a perfectly-tuned bell, call to him in his head.

_Heed my call, young warrior! Your destiny is now! Come now, my will demands it, your fate is so! _

The storm of emerald light ended, and there was nothing left- just an empty spot where Kurama once stood.

_On a city street…_

"That was great!" Joey stretched his arms out, a look of excitement on his face.

"Yeah, it was great until you lost." Tristan mocked, looking off to the side.

"Hey, don't rain on my parade." Joey glared at his companion.

"Don't worry about it, Joey." Yugi said kindly. "You did well, regardless."

"Thanks for being nice, Yugi." Joey huffed. "At least someone is being cool still."

"Take a joke, Joey!" Tea chirped in a sing-song voice.

"Whatever." Joey, clearly put off by being reminded of his failure.

Walking along the sidewalks, Joey just tuned the conversation in and out. The tournament had played out exactly as it normally did- Yugi was victorious and he had failed. Sure, Joey won sometimes, but since everything had settled down in his life, he had lost his dueling touch. Regardless, the young man still loved his friend, even if he did beat him every single time. He just hated to be reminded of his place as second fiddle every time it happened.

_Hm? What's that thing over there?_ Joey stopped in his tracks, distracted by something. His companions had stopped too, Tristan looking a little annoyed at their sudden halt. Joey, ignoring that, turned his head fully to see what had caught his eye- a glowing red orb hidden in an alley. _An orb? What the hell is an orb doing here? It's glowing…_ Joey felt numb all of a sudden. He wanted to go touch the strange orb, regardless of the dangers that might come with it. He felt his feet moving, his breathing slow down as he approached the beautiful orb.

"Joey! Don't be so impulsive!" Tea scolded. "You don't know what that thing is!"

"Joey, be careful!" Yugi reached a hand out.

Joey was oblivious to anything they were saying. He made no response to their pleas as he stopped in front of it, his eyes clearly clouded over as if he were being controlled. He lifted his hand, somewhat hesitantly, before placing it on top of the orb, causing a whirlwind of red light to surround him, blinding his companions. A voice called to him in his head, an indescribably beautiful voice.

_Come, young warrior! Your time is now! Face your destiny, it is commanded! _

The light cleared, leaving no Joey behind when it cleared, just a group of shocked, confusing companions.

_In a forest…._

"Sometimes I wonder why I go to all this trouble when it's so complicated." Katara said, securing her hair in its elaborate braid. It was still a bit damp from her bath, but river water did it little justice. But she took what she could have without complaint. It had been a long few days, and she was pleased to have some time to herself, away from her other companions. Besides, she felt this urge to be alone-maybe something would happen!

"Wishful thinking, I'm sure." Katara said off-handedly as she sat up from her rock, gathering up her bathing supplies. "What exciting adventure awaits us today?" The young girl started to walk away from the river, but stopped. She was oddly unmotivated today, which was weird for Katara. She was the mother of her group- the one who drove everyone else and got everything taken care of.

_Maybe I'm just a bit burnt out? I mean, it's been a long journey so far. Everyone gets tired eventually, right?_ Katara reassured herself. Of course, she was pushing back the annoying feeling that something was wrong. _Now maybe I'm just getting a bit paranoid?_ She let out a deep sigh, letting the tired air escape her lips as she looked on at the river, not moving any further, devoid of any motivation to do so.

_What is that?_ Katara stopped, something distracting her already meager attention. Taking a few steps forward, she found herself staring at a glowing blue orb. It was floating above the ground, which was odd enough, but what was such a thing doing in the forest of all places? Feeling herself go numb, Katara could only listen as the items in her hand clattered to the ground gracelessly, forgotten. She took a few more small steps, staring into the bright, sapphire blue before lifting her hand and gently placing it on the orb. Blue light erupted from the small orb and began to swirl violently around Katara, surrounding her. A heavenly voice sang in her head, like a whisper.

_Answer your calling! The time to meet your destiny is now! Come!_

The violent light cleared up, leaving only a pile of forgotten items in its wake.

_In a room somewhere…_

"And so here goes the next big question- what now?" Kaori turned in the twirling office chair, facing her friend, who was mindlessly flipping through the pages of a book on her bed.

"We ask this question a lot, but it's not as if we ever find an answer to it." Aya said dryly, flipping another page. "What do you want to do now? We have all day."

"I don't know." Kaori shrugged her shoulders, staring off for a moment. "For some reason, an idea isn't coming."

"Weird. You're the idea person. I just follow." Aya responded, looking up at her friend.

"I know, right?" Kaori chimed. "But seriously. I've felt anxious all day. It's annoying."

"I hate the feeling of anxiousness." Aya sighed. "But odd. I've felt the same way."

"Maybe it's nothing." Kaori reassured herself. "But…"

"Maybe it's not." Aya turned, shutting the book. "With our luck, this anxiousness is a sign of impending doom. For all we know, a flaming car could come crashing through my living room. It would happen."

"I don't want that to happen!" Kaori squeaked. "What about your kitties?"

"Of course, the cats come first." Aya rolled her eyes before stopping, staring at something.

"What?" Kaori turned to see what had caught her friend off guard, only to be surprised when she saw a couple of glowing orbs in the hallway. Kaori got up. _That's weird…_ Kaori thought to herself as she stared curiously. One orb was purple while the other one was yellow.

"Why are there glowing orbs in my hallway?" Aya jumped up from the bed, but turned to see Kaori with clouded eyes, slowly walking towards the purple orb. Reaching out a hand in pure instinct to stop her, Aya found her efforts futile. Kaori took one more step before placing her hand on the purple orb, causing a storm of violet light to erupt. Papers flew off of the desk and Aya covered her face, blocking her eyes.

Kaori just stared at the orb, listening as a beautiful voice sang in her head.

_The time for you to awaken is now! Come and answer the call of your destiny! I will it to be!_

Aya fell to her knees from the shock of the storm of light, and looked up, slightly thankful that it was over. She jumped up immediately, ignoring the mess of paper and pencils littering her floor.

"Kaori?" Aya looked around the hallway, but her friend was nowhere to be found. All that was left in the hallways was the yellow orb. "Why did she touch that thing? But…" Aya stared, cocking her head in confusion. She felt some sort of numbness wash over her body, and her eyes became intently focused on the orb. Lifting her hand, half hesitantly, it stayed a few inches above the orb before she too placed it on the orb, causing the same storm to erupt, but with golden yellow light. She heard the crashes of her chair falling to the floor and the rustling of papers and books as they flew around her room.

All of that was drowned out when she heard a voice in her head.

_Come now, young one! Answer your destiny! I command it to be so! _

The storm died down, but all that was left of the two girls was a mess of papers, pencils and a broken chair.

**A/n: **Okay, so now that this is revised, I can now read over my story occasionally without puking at my meager freshman writing skills. I'm so happy. Also, I feel the opening flows together better than it did before. Hopefully, this is easier to understand. This is gradual process, but soon all of the chapters will be revised to match up with the writing style of the sequel. Hooray!

Review, please!


	2. Meetings

**A/n: **Hooray, the revised chapter 2! Now it doesn't suck. Now, on with the story!

The point of these revisions is to make everything smoother. So, hopefully there isn't as much awkwardness in this chapter. Also, I'm trying harder to differentiate between Kaori and Aya's personalities (a suggestion from a much earlier review). So, whatever.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. Never will. So there.

**Chapter 2: Meetings**

The path through the forest village was worn down and a bit boring. The village was so small, it was unexciting to walk through it and see the same mundane scenery day after long day. All that lined the beaten path was a series of houses and shops, with laughing children playing in the lush, green grass. It was the same routine all the time, but today things seemed a bit different.

That might have been for the boy walking that beaten path, charging proudly, though a bit clumsily, through the village. There was a satisfied grin on the boy's face and a cheerful glint in his sky blue eyes, pointed ears adorning either side of his head. He was small in stature, like most of the other children that populated the village, and he was clothed in green, as was the uniform color of the residents. He green tunic was a little too big for him and hung loosely on his thin, boney shoulders, and was clamped around the waist by a thick brown belt. Complimenting the belt was a pair of chunky brown boots, reaching his knees. What set this young lad apart from the rest was the long, green sock cap that sat atop his head, half-covering the unkempt, hay colored hair that hung in his face. The boy seemed even weirder than just the sock cap though- what caught all the children's eyes were the sword and shield strapped to his back. Flying reluctantly at his side was a silver-blue fairy, an aura of regret and exasperation very obvious around her.

"Now where was I going?" the boy stopped in the middle of the trail, scratching his chin. "Was I supposed to turn left at the tall brown monster with green hair?"

"That was tree. And you're going to your leader, remember?" the fairy said sarcastically. "Come on, Link! I reminded you four minutes ago!"

"Oh!" Link clapped his hands together. "The tree! I remember now! Thank you, Navi!"

"How you functioned without a guide until now is completely beyond me." Navi said matter-of-factly, sighing loudly after doing so.

"Look up at the sky!" Link craned his head back, his eyes fixated on something above him. Navi looked up to see what had distracted her companion again, but froze. The boy had a valid reason to be curious- up in the sky above them was a multicolored portal, swirling together in rich shades of green, red, blue, yellow and purple. Navi was about to make a remark before five figures fell out of the portal, scattered limply at Link's feet.

"Um…." Navi froze for a moment, taken slightly aback by the random portal (now gone) that had dumped bodies at their feet. "I'm sure at this point I have no reason to ask what the hell's going on but…"

"People!" Link bent down, paying no heed to the personal space bubble, poking the first person he saw, which was a girl by the looks of it. Navi turned to the other unconscious forms, two other girls and two boys. "Person? Poke? Person? Poke?"

"Whatever." Navi remarked, floating over to one of the boys. She hovered around his head for a moment before jumping back a bit when he started stirring. She flew back another few inches, a safe distance for observing.

"Where…am I?" the boy had a gentle voice, curiously looking around at his surroundings. He was certainly an interesting young man, his most notable feature being his long, silky hair, which was the richest shade of rose red that she had ever seen. His eyes were flawlessly colored- a bright green, like emeralds, that had a calm shine to them. He wore a green jacket, making his eyes even more noticeable over a simple white shirt, as well as a pair of tan, khaki colored pants and brown shoes. In a way, the boy's features were so smooth and delicate that he seemed almost effeminate.

"Ow!" Navi turned around, as did Link, when they saw one of the girls rise up from her unconscious state. "What happened?" She blinked at everyone, her head turning to look at each of those awake at the moment with a pair of light blue eyes, almost a shade of peppermint, ice blue. Her hair was a medium shade of brown and was quite long and pulled back in a pretty but elaborate braid behind her head. Her skin was a tan color, and she was thin and of an average height. She wore a blue outfit-one with short, open sleeves and a skirt that had slits up both sides. To compensate, she wore a pair of black tights and a black shirt underneath with white armbands and a pair of comfy brown boots. Around her neck was a black choker with a silver pendant.

"No more cheese, thanks…" the tired voice of the other boy caught their attention and he lazily sat up, his amber brown eyes glazed over in both fatigue and confusion. He blinked a few times, running a hand through somewhat messy blond hair, before jumping back a bit in shock. "Where in the hell am I?" He wore a blue jacket with the collar flipped up over a white shirt, which was loose. He had on blue pants and shoes colored in white and red. Around his neck was a simple necklace with a silver dog tag.

"Hm? What?" The second girl forced herself into a standing position, freezing when she found her surroundings completely unfamiliar. She blinked at the party in massive confusion, her eyes a dark, rich shade of chocolate brown. Her hair was barely shoulder length, being only a shade of brown lighter than her eyes. She wore a short sleeved black shirt that was buttoned up enough to reveal a yellow shirt underneath. She had on black pants and black boots, as well. Adorning her wrists were a series of yellow, black and blue bracelets and around her neck was a black choker necklace.

"What? Wait! Ow!" the last of the figures dropped from the portal squeaked, catching the attention of the rest. Link froze, his finger frozen mid-poke. She was a bit shorter than the other two girls, and she sat up, rubbing the side of her face, where Link poked her. She had clear, stormy grey eyes and dark brown hair that was swept up into a ponytail. She wore a long-sleeved purple shirt, complimenting her light blue pants nicely. Her shoes were white and purple, and around her waist was a cute lavender belt. She only had a couple of purple bracelets on of her wrists.

"Hi!" Link said cheerfully, throwing one of his arms into the air enthusiastically. "Who are you people anyway? The sky threw you up."

"Well, my name is Joey." Joey offered, calming down from his previous fit of confusion.

"I'm Katara." The girl in blue said in a friendly tone.

"I'm Aya." The girl in black and yellow lifted a hand.

"I'm Kaori!" Kaori chimed, only barely matching the enthusiasm in Link's voice.

"My name is Kurama." Kurama said, his voice calm and gentle.

"Oh, well I'm Link!" Link jumped up, his boots squeaking a bit as he did so. "And this is my super fairy companion of complete awesomeness- Navi!"

"Right." Navi remarked in an unfazed tone, taking her introduction to plop down gracelessly on Link's head. "So…any particular reason you fell from the sky?"

"I was kind of hoping you'd have the answer to that." Joey stared at the fairy. "All I know is that one minute I'm walkin' down the street and the next I touch this orb. And now I'm here."

"Odd. Same thing happened to us." Aya said, standing up and brushing the grass off of her, Kaori following suit.

"Same here." Katara did the same, looking over the people she fell with.

"It appears we all have similar situation." Kurama said coolly. "Not as if this helps us figure out what happened."

"Well, I think it's cool!" Link was clearly excited the situation. "It's not everyday the sky spits up people I can be friends with!"

"It's not everyday the sky spits up people, period." Navi responded dryly.

"Where are we exactly?" Kurama turned to Navi, obviously expecting a better answer.

"The forest place with the kid people!" Link said, as if it were a completely normal answer.

"The Kokiri Forest." Navi answered. "You're currently in the land of Hyrule. Though, this probably means you all are from different worlds."

"When you asked me what to do, world-hopping isn't exactly what I expected." Aya turned to the purple-clad girl, who was clearly in awe of the situation.

"I know…" Kaori just nodded her head, dumbfounded.

"It's really weird, though." Navi mused. "There have never been visitors from another world before. At least, not to my knowledge."

"Would the nifty tree guy know something?" Link looked up at his companion. "I mean. He's nifty and all. That means he knows something, right?"

"Sure, whatever." Navi turned. "We're off to go see someone who might have an idea of what's going on. Want to come?"

"I think it would be more fruitful than sitting here, confused." Kurama shrugged, placing his hands casually inside his pockets.

"I'm with him on this one." Aya agreed, the other two girls nodding their heads as well.

"Well. Whatever." Joey shrugged as well. "Nothing better to do. Let's go for it!"

"Is who we're seeing important?" Katara inquired.

"He's our leader! The one guy who does stuff!" Link turned, answering. "It reminds me of a dream I had about raining skulls and dancing insects. It was awesome."

"I like you." Joey looked down at the smaller boy.

"Hooray!" Link cheered. "But yeah. The insects were singing a mating song. And they were going to create an empire! I don't know about the skulls, though. They were orange."

"Shut up, green." Navi stopped the boy. "We're getting closer."

"Who thinks you can pass, Mr. No Fairy?" a boy stood at the entrance of a tunnel- clearly the one they had to pass to get anywhere. He was a bit taller than Link, but he was lanky and had messy, strawberry blond hair poking out from underneath a green cap. His green clothing- a sleeveless shirt and baggy shorts- hung on his skinny frame and his feet, larger than average, were covered by green shoes. He stared at the party, between Link and then everyone else, with beady, dull brown eyes, his thin mouth curved downwards into a frown, his freckled nose wrinkled in a displeased manner.

"Let us through, Mido!" Link whined. "I have to see the tree person! He told me to come."

"Jeez, you're an idiot." Mido mocked the distraught boy. "You can't even call the Great Deku Tree by his name in respect. That's probably why you didn't get a fairy until this morning- you're a disrespectful brat."

"You're one to talk." Navi mentioned off-handedly.

"He's calling Link disrespectful?" Katara lifted an eyebrow.

"Pot calling the kettle black, I see." Kurama sounded half-amused by the situation.

"You obviously have no respect for authority." Mido smirked at Link. "Even if you did get the shield and sword like I asked for, there's still no reason to let you taint the Great Deku Tree with your idiocy."

"I have to go!" Link looked down, his eyes sad. "I was told to come! Now move!"

"Why should I?" Mido crossed his arms. "Seriously, why does a dimwit like you become the Great Deku Tree's favorite and Saria's favorite?"

"He's probably Saria's favorite because Link doesn't insult everyone like you do." Navi stated bluntly, but it fell on deaf ears. "Of course, no one ever listens to the fairy, so I'll sit here and just pretend to have an opinion." She mumbled most of that to herself.

"And what's more is that you have the nerve to bring outsiders into this forest?" Mido raised his voice a bit, causing Link to take a step back. "I'm not even going to ask how you did that. Look at them! They're not us! But it isn't as if you've ever been one of us, so I guess it fits right? What is it, outsiders stick together or something like that?"

"So…" Aya lifted a finger. "Is he just insulting Link to make himself feel better?"

"Yeah. Insufferable brat." Katara twitched.

"Okay, I've heard enough out of this annoying twit." Joey turned to Kurama. "You're only a little smaller than me. Wanna help me move this brat aside and get going?"

"Sounds like an excellent idea." Kurama calmly followed the blond a few steps forward, and both stood behind Link. The younger boy looked up, blinking his blue eyes in confusion.

"I've heard enough yapping from you." Joey said. "Step aside."

"Why should I listen to filthy outsiders like you?" Mido glared.

"Whatever." Joey and Kurama stepped forward, picking the boy up from either side by his upper arms. They gently placed the boy off to the side and Kurama waved his hand in a gesture to move on. Link's eyes grew wide in excitement and nodded vigorously, dashing past them with the girls skittering behind him.

"Hey, wait! I didn't say you could pass!" Mido yelled.

"Well, we said we could pass." Joey shrugged. "This could get ugly, ya know."

"It didn't seem as if you were ever going to let us go anyway. I find this an extremely passive and non-violent way to solve our problems." Kurama walked on, clearly unfazed by the boy's temper tantrum. Joey followed and Mido stamped his foot on the ground, glaring over his shoulder.

"Just wait!" Mido screamed. "You'll fail and do something wrong! And I hope you do! You jerks!" The group went on a little ways down the passage before stopping again.

"Thank you!" Link turned around. "That guy has been making fun of me forever! But you guys stood up to him! Thank you!"

"Little brat." Navi twitched. "I've never met anyone so bitter and rude before. If I were bigger and taller…"

"Not a problem." Joey shrugged. "Take out the ones who suck, that's my philosophy."

"I'm glad someone dealt with him or I would have." Katara looked off to the side, an annoyed glint in her ice blue eyes. "Not much of a backbone, though, if he let the situation end so easily."

"Well…" Link seemed genuinely thrilled at the group's actions, no matter how small and harmless they were. "Anyways, let's go see the tree person now!" The group nodded, the air of awkwardness that had surrounded them earlier now completely gone. Once past the trial ended, they found themselves in a large clearing and in the center of the light green field was an impossibly large tree whose bark almost seemed to form a face.

"I've returned, Great Deku Tree." Navi flew forward a bit. "I brought Link. But I also brought some outsiders…from another world."

"Ah, I see. Come, sit with me, young ones." the tree's booming voice spoke. Everyone in the party sans Kurama jumped. "Thou hast arrived at the perfect time. Allow me to explain."

"It…talked." Joey cocked his head in pure shock.

"I guess it's called the Great Deku Tree for a reason." Aya blinked.

"I figured as much." Kurama said, sitting down with the rest of the group as instructed.

"What's wrong, tree-man?" Link asked innocently.

"Some time ago, a wicked man from the desert came and placed a curse upon me." the tree began. "He came demanding something that I would not give him. He cursed me as a punishment. Unfortunately, I cannot break this curse on my own."

"What do ya mean?" Link asked. "Aren't you powerful and stuff?"

"Yes, but my power only extends so far." the tree said. "Thou must venture within my depths and break this terrible curse. It is eating away at my life and power. Is thou up to the challenge?"

"Sure!" Link jumped up from his standing position. "I've always wanted to go inside a tree! It'll be like the dream I had about the crying fish and the giant lake of red goo that glowed orange and burgundy…whatever burgundy looks like!"

"Navi, thou must follow Link and guide him." the tree turned to the fairy, who nodded.

"Of course, Great Deku Tree." Navi complied.

"Excuse me…sir…" Katara stumbled for the right words. "But what about us? What do we do?"

"Thou will all prove useful to this young boy." the tree said.

"Go into the tree and break the curse with him?" Joey asked in an incredulous tone. "How will we be able to help at all?"

"I see great power in thou." the tree said. "Thou will all prove useful."

"That doesn't help." Joey whined, annoyed with the obscurity of the tree's words.

"I see that two of thou all hast already acquired abilities in their home worlds." the tree explained, causing Katara and Kurama to turn.

"Huh?" Joey whirled around to the two.

"I have the ability to manipulate plants." Kurama turned to Joey, explaining in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"I can control water and ice!" Katara chirped.

"Cooler than anything I can do." Aya looked off to the side, speaking in a sarcastic tone.

"Allow me to equip ye who have no way of fighting yet." the tree said, and in a moment there was a flash of light around Joey, Aya, and Kaori. After a moment of glowing, Joey stared down a sword that he now held, which was red in its hilt. Aya held a much larger sword, surprisingly big for her size, which had a pretty yellow ribbon wrapped around its tall handle. Kaori held a thin bow in her hands with a quiver tied to her back.

"Isn't that heavy?" Katara blinked in surprise at Aya, who swung the blade a couple of times.

"I asked myself that." Aya turned, answering. "Oddly enough, no, it's not."

"Cool, a sword." Joey seemed amused at his new weapon.

"Um…I've never used one of these before." Kaori said hesitantly.

"No worries, young one." the tree reassured. "You will find yourself talented at it." On that note, the tree opened his mouth.

"Cool!" Link whirled around to the rest of the group. "I have friends! Let's go and play in the tree!" The boy ran happily into the tree, taking no heed to the danger that may lie ahead. Letting out a tired and exasperated sigh, Navi started to follow.

"The nincompoop will get himself killed if we don't follow." her silvery blue aura blinked in annoyance.

"Ever the enthusiastic one he is." Kurama said as the rest went inside the tree. They found Link quickly disposing of a couple of flower monsters, which Navi identified as Deku Babas, before turning to greet the rest of the party. To the party's surprise, for all his spacey-ness, Link was quite the swordsman.

"Nice moves there." Joey blinked a bit in surprise.

"It's one of his redeeming qualities." Navi said sarcastically.

"Does redeeming have to do with peanut butter?" Link looked up, asking with honesty.

"No, Link." Navi explained dryly.

"Can I ask a question before we move on?" Kaori piped. "I'm just curious. How old is everyone?"

"Oh, that might be useful information." Aya blinked a couple of times before shrugging and placing a hand on her hip.

"I'm twelve!" Link did a thumbs-up.

"I'm surprised you know that." Navi remarked.

"I'm fifteen." Joey said.

"I'm also fifteen." Kurama nodded at Joey.

"I'm thirteen." Katara raised her hand.

"Same here." Aya waved her hand.

"So am I!" Kaori giggled a bit.

"Convenient that we're all the same age." Katara seemed satisfied.

"That's out of the way." Navi plopped down on Link's head. "Shall we move one before the leader of this village dies because of us?"

"Good idea." Kurama nodded.

"Onward!" Link outstretched his finger and charged forward, the rest of his newfound companions reluctantly following behind.

**A/n:** I decided to get the ages out of the way in this chapter, since that would probably have been asked sooner. Whatever.

Review!


	3. Inside the Deku Tree

**A/n: **Here is the revised Chapter Three. Isn't it beautiful?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Zelda. I'm not worthy enough to own such a franchise.

**Chapter 3: Inside the Deku Tree**

"Ah! Spiders!" Link squeaked, his surprised yelp echoing across the hollow tree. The distressed boy was pointing up to a few creepy spider monsters that clung to a wall of vines.

"Wallskulltulas." Navi said bluntly, causing everyone to turn. "They're only harmful when you try to climb past them. Then they turn purple and kill you."

"Well, we'll try to avoid that then." Kurama looked around. "We can't climb past them yet, can we?"

"Nope." Navi said. "There isn't enough distance or else it would work. There's a door over there, though. That might help."

"Well, I don't feel like becoming spider food." Joey started to walk towards the door.

"Door!" Link ran past the taller blond, enthusiasm practically radiating from him.

"His enthusiasm is ridiculous." Aya stared as the boy ran.

"It's something, for sure." Navi responded, reluctantly following her companion. The rest of the party followed as well, opening the door. To their surprise, they were greeted with a barrage of nuts, which flew at them like bullets. Attacking them was a small, wooden creature than shot at them through its snout.

"Holy crap!" Joey dodged a couple of nuts clumsily.

"This was certainly unexpected." Kurama merely tilted his head to the side to avoid one.

"I wish I had those kind of reflexes." Aya jumped off to the side, staring in an exasperated manner at the redhead who calmly dodged the flying nuts.

"Ahh!" Link screamed melodramatically, falling to the floor on his behind.

"It's a Deku Scrub! Reflect the nuts back at it with your shield!" Navi commanded, flying around the boy's head. "If you don't, y'all are going have concussions." Link blinked, as if trying to comprehend what the fairy was telling him before hopping up gracelessly and pulling out his wooden shield.

"It's like playing a game!" Link held up his shield and a few of the nuts bounced off of it and reflected back at the Deku Scrub, who let out a pathetic squeak and fell back in pain on top of the flower he was hiding in.

"Is it dead?" Joey went over to the creature, poking it with his foot.

"Right, walk over to the monster that tried to attack us." Navi's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"I'm just checking!" Joey defended himself. "I don't want to get attacked with those nuts again. That hurt, dammit!"

"Well, it's obviously breathing." Katara lifted a delicate eyebrow at the blond.

"Okay, you all suck." Joey took a few steps back from the creature, defeated. A few minutes later, the creature rose up from its state of pain, turning to the party and bowing.

"Forgive me!" the deku scrub said, bowing again and again. "Spare me! If you give me mercy, I'll teach you all a new tactic!"

"I like tricks!" Link cocked his head obliviously. "Does it involve cards? Or wait…does it involve evil blood-sucking birds? Ones with giant beaks that peck out peoples eyeballs and feed them to their children?"

"…." There was a silence among the party and the Deku Scrub.

"No!" Navi bonked the child on the head, invoking a slight whimper. "Moron!"

"I was just asking…" the boy's bright blue eyes held defeat as he looked down, twiddling his fingers.

"If you fall from a high place, roll when you hit the ground! It'll absorb some of the impact." the Deku Scrub said, completely ignoring Link's rant. "I can't guarantee that it'll work for really high places though!" With that said, the Deku Scrub disappeared into its flower.

"That was…weird." Joey blinked in confusion.

"That was cool!" Link stared in awe. "What did he say?" Link looked up at Navi.

"Ignore it for now, you dork." Navi plopped herself on the boy's head. "Just go forward." The party shrugged that off and went on to the next room, which had a platform floating above a low floor, leading to a treasure chest on the other side. Link, without fail, jumped cheerfully on the platform leading everyone else to do the same. Of course, as luck went, the platform crumbled and fell in pieces to the floor below.

"That sucks." Aya said off-handedly before turning to the treasure chest. "What's in that?"

"I don't know." Navi looked down at her dimwitted partner. "Open it!" Link complied with his fairy; eagerly opening the chest to see was inside. The chest was much too big for him and he practically fell into the chest trying to retrieve his prize. Kurama assisted him, being taller, pulling out what was inside.

"A slingshot." Kurama stared at the simply crafted weapon and a small leather bag. "And some ammo, it would seem." Kurama gave the weapon to Link, who started at it with big eyes.

"I was really good at the slingshot games we played in the village!" Link declared. "Is this mine now that I found the treasure?"

"You'll need it, I'm sure." Navi nodded. "Of course, the idea of you having any projectile weaponry scares me a bit."

"I think that's kinda cool." Joey smirked. "Now you can shoot that brat's face with a couple nuts and see how he likes being picked on."

"I agree with you." Katara twitched. "I never met anyone who irritates me as much as he does."

"We're stuck here forever!" Link began wailing all of a sudden, his melodramatic cries of despair echoing through the small room. "FAILURE!"

"Wait…" Joey turned and saw that there was no way across to the other side from which they came. "We are stuck!"

"Not quite." Kurama said smoothly, ignoring Link and Joey's cries. "If Link shoots that ladder up there down with the slingshot, we could probably get across."

"Oh, there's a ladder up there." Aya blinked. "Sweet."

"Thanks for pointing that out." Navi glanced at the redhead. "Anyways, shut your traps you idiots! Link, shoot that ladder down!"

"There's a ladder?" Link looked up at the fairy, perturbed by this revelation.

"Just aim and shoot, okay?" Navi sighed loudly. Link did as his fairy ordered him to, proving his statement right when he shot down the ladder perfectly on the first shot. Everyone hopped down and left the room, going back to the area with the Wallskulltulas.

"Now Link can shoot those down." Navi instructed and the boy did as he was told, shooting down the monsters, causing them to fall to the floor and dissipate.

"That's awesome." Aya blinked. "I wish the spiders back home would fall to the floor in flaming heaps and dissipate."

"That would certainly make things more interesting, wouldn't it?" Kurama agreed with the statement. After that, he walked over the vine wall. "It appears we can climb up to the next level using this."

"Sweet." Joey started to climb, proving himself to be quite athletic. Link followed joyously, humming some random tune to himself as he climbed up. After everyone went up, they stood there for a moment on the ledge, catching their breaths.

"Ah!" Aya squeaked all of a sudden, getting knocked back. Everyone turned for the source of the attack only to see a giant spider, like a big version of the Wallskulltulas, angrily shaking. Kurama formed a vine whip in a flash, blocking the next attack and slashing the monster a few times, killing it.

"There's a couple of more." Navi pointed out. Link squealed, but Navi hit him on the head, causing the boy to run over with his sword and shield to attack another.

"Let's see what the Joey can do." Joey pulled out the sword he was given and ran forward, a determined glint in his amber eyes. He surprised himself when he narrowly dodged an attack from the creature, before slashing this soft underbelly. Katara joined him, slashing at the monster with a whip made of water, of which she made from a glass bottle at her side.

"Um…Um…Take that!" Kaori notched an arrow and shot one off, hitting the Skulltula that Link was attacking, but not killing it. Link finished it off, triumphantly dancing at his victory.

"Thanks!" Link whirled around, finishing his victory jig. "That helped!"

"I was just trying to be useful." Kaori blushed a bit. "I guess the Great Deku Tree was right. I'm not that bad."

"That was awesome." Joey twirled around to face the group. "I just killed a giant spider! Yeah!"

"With my help!" Katara declared, turning towards the blond. "Thanks for giving me a little credit."

"I was gonna do that…" Joey looked off to the side sheepishly, earning an annoyed snort from Katara.

"Yeah, right." Katara huffed.

"Are you alright?" Kurama looked to Aya, who seemed to have recovered from the shock of getting knocked down by a gigantic spider.

"Everything's fine now." Aya brushed herself off. "Thanks for the help, though. Sorry I couldn't be, ya know, useful."

"I'm sure you'll prove yourself useful in the future." Kurama reassured, a gentle glint in his emerald eyes.

"We're an awesome team!" Link declared cheerfully, throwing his skinny arms in the air. "I mean, we're cool!"

"Actually, even I'll admit that was pretty nice." Navi sat back down on Link's head as she spoke. "For a bunch of people who just met not even five hours ago, y'all make a good team."

"We are pretty amazing, aren't we?" Joey scratched his chin.

"Don't get full of yourself!" Katara turned to the blond, her voice dry.

"I'm not!" Joey shot back, a twitch in his eye.

"I have a feeling this is only the start of many arguments to come." Aya lifted her eyebrow at the two.

"Yes, indeed." Kurama shrugged a bit, walking around to figure out what was next. "Does anyone else notice the giant web blocking the hole on the bottom floor?"

"What about cheese curds and watermelons?" Link asked innocently, as if this were a completely normal question.

"Yeah." Navi answered Kurama, looking down. "I bet you all could break that and reach the lower levels if you jumped from here. I see water below."

"J-jump…from here?" Kaori barely squeaked out, staring down in fear. "I-isn't…there..a-another…w-way?" She took a few fearful steps back.

"I forgot about that." Aya turned to Kaori, sighing. "It's not that bad, right?"

"Yes it is!" Kaori declared, turning with wide grey eyes at her friend. "Do you see how high up we are?"

"I think it sounds fun!" Link sounded all up for the idea. "Think of the big splash we'll make!"

"I'm not opposed if it is our only means of continuing." Kurama answered. Katara and Joey both nodded, paused in their arguing.

"Oh, is Kaori afraid of heights?" Joey elbowed the short girl mischievously, provoking another pathetic squeak from her.

"You're scaring her more!" Katara jabbed the older blond with her elbow.

"Hey! Who gave you permission to do that?" Joey glared down at the water-user.

"I don't need permission to do that!" Katara raised her voice. "You're the one being annoying."

"At least I'm not jabbing people's rib cages with my elbows!" Joey yelled back. "Let me try it and see how you enjoy it!"

"Try it and see what happens, you big jerk!" Katara got on her tip-toes to reach eye level with Joey. Both stood there, glaring at each other.

"The start of a beautiful friendship." Navi rolled her eyes. "Anyways, are we going or…"

"Yay! Falling!" Link leapt off the ledge they were standing against, his declaration bouncing off the walls of the tree for all to hear.

"Okay, apparently yes, we're going." Navi followed after her companion.

"I-I'm n-n-not g-g-g-going…I-I can't…g-g-go…" Kaori was frozen. Aya just sighed a bit to herself, looking at her friend before rubbing her forehead gently with her hand.

"You'll come to forgive me with therapy." Aya walked behind the fearful girl before using all her might to shove her friend forward, sending her toppling over the edge with a loud, earsplitting scream.

"Effective." Joey did a thumbs-up.

"AHHHHH!" Kaori's screamed faded as she fell.

"Sweet! Onward!" Joey leapt off the platform himself. Katara rolled her eyes.

"Show off." Katara declared before hopping off herself. Aya just turned to Kurama.

"Ready?" Aya asked.

"Oh, this isn't really a big deal." Kurama laughed a bit. The two hopped down after the rest on that note. The web broke, as predicted, and the party found themselves in a pool of cool, spring water. They swam off to an edge, climbing onto dry land.

"Aya!" Kaori whirled around. "Don't do that again!"

"You weren't going to go down otherwise." Aya responded coolly. "Besides, falling was better than sitting their alone, right?"

"I know, but at least warn me before you shove me off a platform!" Kaori growled.

"Okay, I'll warn you next time." Aya shrugged. "And then you'll be more scared than you were before and stop me."

"N-not true!" Kaori looked off to the side, shivering from her damp clothing.

"C-cold." Joey sniffled.

"I can probably fix this." Katara got up. "I mean, removing water from clothing is a basic thing I learned. Here." Katara used her water-manipulation to suck the water from everyone's clothes, making them dry again.

"Useful ability." Kurama nodded at Katara.

"I know!" Katara smiled a bit.

"Torch!" Link declared, pointing to a torch on a ledge only a couple of feet from the one they stood on.

"You have those Deku Sticks, right?" Navi looked down Link.

"Oh, you mean the babies of the brown monsters with green hair?" Link asked honestly.

"Yes. The _sticks _that came from the _tree_." Navi groaned. "Hop over there, light one up with the torch and go over there and burn the web away from that door."

"Okay!" Link clumsily leapt over to the torch, whipping out a Deku Stick and lighting it up. Everyone ignored the fact that Link now possessed fire and watched him as he ran over to the door and burned away the thick webbing that blocked it.

"You did something right." Navi congratulated. "You should be proud." The party went past the door only to be greeted by another barrage of nuts. Link reflected them with his shield after being reminded by Navi and the creature yelped, jumping back and hiding in a corner.

"D-don't hurt me!" the Deku Scrub begged. "I'll tell you a secret if you let me escape! You will never defeat my brothers up ahead if you don't follow this rule! Beat them in this order: 2-3-1. Twenty-three is number one!"

"Twenty-three is number one?" Katara cocked her head at the statement.

"Huh?" Link looked confused. "I thought twenty three was higher than one?"

"It's just a statement, Link." Navi looked down. "Just forget it."

"Okay!" With Link, forgetting things was not hard.

"Am I traitor?" the Deku Scrub asked hesitantly before hopping into its flower and disappearing.

"Alright then." Joey shrugged that off. "What now?"

"There's a switch up there, I presume." Kurama calmly pointed to an eye-like switch up near the ceiling.

"Do I hit the pretty switch?" Link asked his fairy.

"Hooray." Navi's voice was very unfazed. "You guessed correctly.

"Okay!" Link shot off his slingshot enthusiastically, causing the eye switch to blink its eyes shut. The door to the next area became unbarred, allowing the group to access it. The next room seemed to be a bit of a challenge, though. The room was full of water, with a rotating, spiked bar barely above the water level. There was a platform going back and forth across the reservoir, but there was no away to stay on it with the spiked bar in the way.

"We're stuck again!" Link whined, defeated.

"What the hell?" Joey seemed annoyed.

"Is that a switch down there?" Aya pointed to a switch at the bottom of the pool.

"Yes. Someone gets to swim to the bottom of that pool and click it to see what happens." Navi explained. "Who's our lucky volunteer?"

"I vote Joey." Katara crossed her arms.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Aya agreed. Kaori just nodded her head in compliance.

"What do I do?" Link looked up at Navi.

"Just vote for Joey." she answered.

"Okay!" Link just went along with what he was told to do. "Joey, then!"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Joey threw his arms out. "Wait just a damn minute!"

"Since everyone else seems to think it's a good idea, I'll vote for you, too, Joey." Kurama turned to the angry boy.

"Not you, too!" Joey turned to the redhead, exasperated.

"It isn't as if my vote mattered either way." Kurama said. "I was outvoted no matter who I voted for."

"Ugh…" Joey took his jacket off and threw it at Katara, who caught it with an annoyed glint in her eyes. "I see who the underappreciated one is here." Joey dove into the water, which really wasn't that deep and swam down to hit the switch. He did this speedily, since he didn't want to drown and swam back up when he accomplished his goal. He threw himself back on the ground where everyone else was melodramatically. Katara used her water powers to dry Joey off before throwing his jacket at him.

"The water level dropped." Kurama pointed. "I believe it might be timed, though."

"It is! Get on the platform, now!" Navi ordered and everyone jumped on the platform, safely getting to the other side before the water rose again.

"Now that we narrowly avoided getting stabbed in head with spikes…" Aya trailed. "I'm surprised I'm taking all of this seeing as how I've never done anything so weird before."

"I know." Kaori piped. "I'm surprisingly unfazed by all of this…I mean, minus the height-thing."

"I've done some weird stuff back on my world, but this certainly takes the cake." Katara agreed. "I'm more surprised that we're working together so well."

"Normally, people as different as us don't get along at all." Aya tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not going to question it, seeing as how I'd rather us get along that argue."

"Well, you're all getting along minus the fact that Joey and Katara keeping biting each other's heads off." Navi pointed out nonchalantly, causing Joey and Katara to turn away from each other and huff.

"It's his fault."

"It's her fault."

Upon speaking at the same time, the two turned and glared at each other. The proverbial sparks flying between the two were practically visible.

"Excuse me for pointing it out." Navi shrugged. In the midst of it all, Kurama had disposed of a Giant Skulltula and Link, per Kurama's suggestion, pushed a block a little ways forward to make climbing platform. Aya stopped Joey and Katara from continuing their argument and the mismatched party went forward, continuing into the next room. The next room had another simple torch puzzle, which Navi ordered Link through, and party found themselves back in the room they had fallen into, just on a higher platform.

"Um…" Joey lifted a finger. "I know I'm not an expert on cursed trees and adventures, but I don't think we're supposed to go in a circle."

"We're not, Joey." Kurama explained smoothly. "There's another web we can fall through in the floor over there. I assume that leads to another area. We just have to find a way down it."

"As long is it doesn't involve falling…" Kaori looked off to the side sheepishly.

"Oh, there's a block you can push into the water right there." Navi gestured. "Link can just push that down and use that as a jumping platform to get to the torch and burn the web."

"Fire?" Link looked up at the fairy, a demented gleam in his clueless eyes. "Yeah!" Link used all his meager strength to push the block down and did as his fairy instructed, bringing back a lit deku stick. He bent down and burned away web, jumping back before he fell in.

"Good." Navi shrugged. "You take direction well, my little mind-slave."

"Sweet!" Link looked up. "Does that mean I'm being controlled? Because being controlled would be kind of nifty."

"I might as well be controlling you." Navi said, sitting on his head. "You do everything I tell you to do."

"Use your power wisely." Aya shrugged. "You could tell him to ram his head into the wall and he'd probably do it."

"No doubt about that." Joey laughed loudly. "That's probably why he amuses me so much." With that said, the group hopped down into the water below, drying themselves off when they got to land again. There was barely a chance to do so when the party got hit from three angles in a storm of nuts.

"Ow, my face!" Link slapped himself, clumsily dodging another attack.

"Twenty three is number one, right?" Katara turned to Kurama, who nodded.

"I assume this is the situation we use that in." Kurama stepped casually away to dodge a few. Joey fell to his behind gracelessly as he avoided a few more.

"Reflect the nuts back at the second one, you moron!" Navi ordered. Link took out his shield and did as he was told. Upon Navi's next orders, he hit the third and the second one, stunning them all and causing the first one to jump back and hide in a corner while his brethren squealed in defeat.

"Please don't kill us!" the first scrub spoke, waving his hands in front of his face. "We have to let you through now. How did you know our secret? Oh, I'm sorry, your majesty!" the three scrubs disappeared into their flowers with a chorus of defeated whimpers.

"Um…" Joey got up. "Is it just me or are this Deku Scrubs really wimpy?"

"They have begged for mercy and ratted each other out, like, five times." Aya waved her hand.

"They suck like that." Navi said.

"What about berries and goblins?" Link put his shield away and turned around.

"I like berries." Kaori seemed to have been paying about as much attention as Link.

"I know!" Link seemed thrilled.

"You! Nincompoop!" Navi bonked him on the head. "Prepare yourself. Something nasty is on the other side of that door."

"Oh, joy." Aya sighed.

"What do you mean by 'nasty'?" Joey inquired.

"I don't know. I'm not psychic." Navi huffed. "I'm just warning you. You all needed the heads-up, believe me."

"Is that an insult?" Joey waved his fist at the fairy.

"Joey! Be quiet!" Katara jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Ah!" Joey coughed. "You're going to kill me doing that, you know."

"If you're big and tough, you'll be fine, right?" Katara shot back.

"Wait a minute…Hey! You little…" Joey crossed his arms.

"Let's get a move on, then." Navi waited for an opening, gesturing to the door. Everyone nodded and they walked through the door, Link happily leading the crew.

**A/n:** There ya have it. Everything seems to flow together better now that I'm fleshing out the chapters more. I'm making Navi grumpy and sarcastic, like she's always been, just not as much of a bitch. And I'm playing around with Joey and Katara more.

Review. The Gods demand it to be so. (maniacal laughter)


	4. Journey's Start

**A/n: **Here is the next "updated" chapter. Sorry it's so behind schedule, but real life sucks like that. Between doing some household stuff, friends and finding a job in today's craptastic economy, life's been busy.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Zelda.

**Chapter 4: Journey's Start**

"I might be going crazy but it feels like we're being watched." Joey muttered, looking around cautiously at the dark room the party had walked into. It seemed somewhat foggy and the air was wet and dense, giving off a muddy smell.

"Um…" Aya shrugged her shoulders a bit before turning to the rest of the group. "I'm with him on this one. I feel like someone's watching us."

"I didn't know the Great Deku Tree had a sun!" Link looked up at the ceiling, an ecstatic and very distracted look upon his young face.

"A sun?" Kaori turned to meet Link's line of vision and let out a horrible shriek at what she saw.

"W-what…is that?" Katara stuttered as the rest of the party turned to look. There was a large, demonic looking orange eye staring at the party from the ceiling.

"That's…..not a sun…" Joey seemed taken aback.

""Thank you, Captain Obvious." Navi said. There was a scratching sound as the source of the orange eye began to move towards the party, making it more easily seen. Standing before the party was a large, grotesque spider, its orange eye staring ominously down at the party.

"Oh…Darn. I thought the Great Deku Tree had sunshine." Link pouted. "Everyone likes sunshine."

"Now's not the time to talk about that." Navi seemed annoyed. "That thing's name is Gohma, a spider queen. Its eye is obviously its weak point."

"So, hit its eye?" Katara turned. "Then, Link and Kaori are our best bets here, since they have the slingshot and the bow."

"Um…" Kaori nervously pulled out an arrow, but before she could do anything, a barrage of seeds flew past her.

"Fly my seedlings fly!" Link declared in a slightly maniacal voice. With luck, several of the seeds hit the spider's eye and it went crashing to the ground in a dazed, stunned heap. Kurama leapt on the chance, slashing the monster several times. Joey followed the redhead's lead, pulling out his sword and slashing it, too. The spider angrily crawled back up the ceiling.

"Again!" Kurama called over his shoulder. Kaori nodded, taking her chance to finally do something. She shot off an arrow while Link threw out another careless storm of seeds. The monster let out another pathetic cry and it slammed back down to the floor.

"Stupid spider!" Katara said in disgust, and from a bottle at her side came a sharp whip of water that slashed the mutated spider with a graceful flick of her hand. Aya slashed her sword a couple of times before the spider climbed back to the ceiling, clearly dazed. Link shot off more seeds, seemingly amused, and the spider went crashing down once more. After a surprisingly coordinated group attack, Gohma let out a horrible screaming noise, crying out in sheer pain as it died, thanks to a killing blow from Kurama. The party took a step back as the spider writhed in pain on the cold ground before dissipating in a red mist. In its wake, it left a blue portal.

"If you want me to be honest, I expected that to be a mess." Navi said, genuinely surprised.

"What do you mean?" Katara turned to the fairy.

"The Deku Tree sent a group of kids all under the age of sixteen, and only half of them had any sort of real combat experience." Navi explained matter-of-factly. "I figured that Aya, Kaori and Joey had no idea how to fight monsters or use weapons."

"I don't." Joey blinked, answering honestly. "I mean, I don't really deal with crap like that on my world. I've never held a sword in my life."

"Same here." Aya gestured between her and Kaori. "Our world is actually peaceful. But it's strange. For some reason, it feels natural to fight."

"Natural?" Katara cocked her head in confusion.

"Yeah." Joey shrugged. "It kinda feels like I already learned it or something. It's hard to explain."

"I don't care!" Link turned, his blue eyes sparkling in excitement. "I thought I was going to be alone, but you all helped me. I'm glad you know how to fight!"

"Link actually has a point." Kurama lifted a finger. "It worked out in the end. Perhaps the Great Deku Tree can shed a little light on the subject. I assume that portal is our ticket out of here."

"Come on, moron." Navi nudged Link in the head.

"What about silver ponies?" Link looked up, as if he were asking a logical question.

"Silver ponies?" Joey asked confusedly.

"Yeah, silver ponies." Link nodded. "I heard something about silver ponies eating cake.

"Just go through the portal, you idiot!" the fairy shoved the boy with a surprising amount of strength, given her size. The rest of the part followed Link. The portal took them to the meadow in front of the Great Deku Tree. Kurama's eyes narrowed and Navi flickered her aura in concern. The others didn't notice, but the large tree's condition hadn't changed much. He was still a grey color and his leaves were now turning brown and falling off, littering the ground.

"Thou hast done it." The Great Deku Tree said somewhat proudly. "But…Thou is also too late. Young ones, I was done before you even started."

"Wait…What?" Joey turned to the tree.

"Huh?" Link's eyes were suddenly wide with shock, concern written all over his face.

"It is true, young ones." The Great Deku Tree said calmly. "Your efforts were brave and valiant, but my fate was obvious before you entered."

"You…mean…" Link's eyes were watery. "But…"

"Sit and listen to what I have to say, young ones." The party complied with his wishes, sitting down on the grassy ground while the tree explained what seemed like the creation story of Hyrule. He explained that, long ago, a group of three goddesses named Din, Farore, and Nayru put their powers together and created the land of Hyrule. After they were done, they left behind a sacred relic called the Triforce as a symbol of the ultimate power.

"Uh…" Joey's eyes were wide in confusion, as were Link's. Actually, everyone but Kurama and Navi seemed confused.

"Now, listen, Link." The Great Deku Tree said, causing the young boy to jump up into a standing position. Suddenly, a glowing green stone appeared in Link's hands. "This is the Kokiri's Emerald, the sacred stone of the forest. That is what the wretched man from the forest sought and killed me for. Take it and go to the Hyrule Castle to find Princess Zelda. There, your journey will become clear."

"O-okay…" Link pocketed the small emerald, big tears falling from his eyes.

"Navi." The Great Deku Tree called out. "Follow this boy on his journey."

"G-got…it. No problem." Navi nodded at her command.

"Now, the rest of you young ones." The rest of the party stood up. "You all have rich destines ahead of thee. I have faith in you all to complete your…duties. Start your journey and follow this boy. Help him…"

"…" the party just nodded.

"Thank…you…" the Great Deku Tree seemed weak. "Now…go on…your journey….young ones….Hyrule….is…in your…hands…Please…save…this….glorious world….I…entreat…ye…."

"Deku Tree!" Navi called out in surprise. The tree suddenly hardened and changed a dark, sickly blackish grey. The leaves of the tree turned an even darker shade of brown and began falling off the tree in big clumps, falling gracelessly to the meadow's ground.

"But…But…" Link's eyes welled up with even more tears and he threw his hands to his face, crying.

"Link." Joey patted the boy's shoulder, rubbing the boy's bony back in an almost brotherly motion. "Let it all out, buddy. You'll feel better."

"We're sorry, Link." Kaori looked sad.

"You did your best." Kurama placed a hand on Link's other shoulder. "But the Great Deku Tree trusted you with this endeavor. Come on; let us not put this to waste. Who knows what else this so-called 'man from the desert' is doing to other people."

"Kurama's right, Link." Navi said, who had changed her voice back to its usual tone of indifference. "Hurry! We need to find the Princess. We'll worry about the details when we leave the forest."

"O-okay." Link sniffled. "Alright! Let's go!" Link had dropped all signs of depression and his eyes twinkled with oblivious determination. He threw a finger forward and began to march blindly out of the Deku Tree's meadow. The party all shrugged and followed after the green-clad boy, all nodding their final regards for the dead tree, as he had helped them.

"What happened back there?" Mido's snotty voice interrupted the party's thoughts. At the exit to the meadow stood the lanky boy, his beady brown eyes scanning angrily over everyone. "What happened to the Great Deku Tree? Tell me now!"

"Calm down. Jeez." Joey rolled his amber eyes before turning back to the angry village leader.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Mido's voice cracked a bit, his eyes flaring up in anger. "You stupid outsider! I always knew you were good for nothing, that you were never a true Kokiri!"

"…" Link took a step back, his blue eyes watering up again at the harsh words.

"You were troublesome enough and then you had to bring you outsider friends and kill the Great Deku Tree! You've ruined everything! You shouldn't even be here! I don't want you here!" Mido screamed at the top of his lungs. "You're a murderer! And I don't want you and your murderer friends to be in this village any longer! Get lost!"

"Well, that's a nice farewell." Aya seemed less than fazed by the brat's temper tantrum.

"I…I didn't kill him!" Link declared. "He died on his own. I wasn't the one who killed him!"

"Quit lying!" Mido yelled. "You're a liar. You're a liar like you are a murderer and an outsider! You don't belong here! You never will!" Mido was about to scream more hateful declarations before Joey's fist prevented him from doing so. Mido fell to the ground clutching the side of his face and the angered blond stood over him, his amber eyes clearly angered.

"Shut your trap!" Joey said, lowering his fist. "No one cares what you have to say."

"Joey?" Link looked up. Joey glanced over his shoulder and just winked. "Thanks!"

"Not a problem, dude." Joey shrugged and turned back to the others.

"Good thing you did that or I was going to shut him up myself." Katara twitched.

"Let's leave before we cause any more problems." Kurama walked casually past the fallen boy, who was glaring up at the party, still clutching his cheek.

"Come on, moron." Navi nudged Link, who began walking. They just left Mido lying there, angered and sad.

"The exit is right there, I presume?" Kurama pointed to a tunnel at the tip of the village, turning to Navi.

"Yup. The exit is right there." Navi nodded. The party walked on and finally passed through the tunnel, leaving the village behind. They were stopped, however, by a girl blocking their path.

"Who?" Joey cocked his head. The girl was small, looking to be around Link's age. She was thin, petite, with pale skin and hair the color of emeralds, a deep forest green. She looked over the group with calm, sad blue eyes. She was dressed in green, as well, like Link.

"Saria!" Link exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"You're leaving, aren't you, Link?" Saria looked sad, looking down. "You're going to leave us?"

"I have to!" Link said proudly. "I'm on a mission with my new friends that I made!"

"I see." Saria looked over the group again. "I'm glad you have new friends. Link…I always tried to make you feel like one of us, but I always knew that you were different. I looked past that because…I liked you, but…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried. It only caused you more pain."

"Actually, things were nifty except for Mido." Link said innocently.

"Right." Saria smiled. "Well, Link…I have a feeling things will be different from now on. But…" Saria pulled out an ocarina, a simple brown one, from her pocket.

"…" Link stared confusingly at the ocarina. "OH! That's the…thing."

"Take this ocarina with you, Link." Saria smiled. "And when you play it, remember the forest, okay?"

"Alight!" Link took the ocarina, pocketing the delicate instrument, taking one last look at the girl. He then turned around to the party, a goofy grin on his face. Throwing his finger in the air, he marched out through the rest of the tunnel proudly. The rest of the party nodded in acknowledgment to Saria before following their de facto leader.

"Link, who was that?" Kaori stopped Link.

"Oh." Link twirled around clumsily to face the rest of the group. "That was Saria. She was my only friend in the village. Everyone else thought I was a freak because I didn't have a fairy."

"Oh." Joey shrugged. "They all seemed like jerks."

"Oh well." Link shrugged. "I have friends now…right? You all are my friends?"

"We're stuck together, so yeah, I guess we're friends." Aya answered. "I mean. We're going to be together for awhile. At least…That's how the tree made it sound."

"It does seem like we're going to be here for a long time." Kurama tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I don't particularly mind. A change is nice."

"Well, you all are getting along well already." Navi said, plopping down on Link's head. "Shall we move on now? The fields of Hyrule are pretty nasty at night."

"What about cabbage?" Link looked up.

"Nothing. Just move, you nincompoop!" Navi ordered and the ditzy boy obliged. The party turned a corner, exiting the forest altogether, and were greeted to the majestic fields of Hyrule. It seemed like an endless terrain of emerald green, stretching far into the horizon ahead of them. The sky was the clearest shade of bright blue that any of them had every seen, free of clouds altogether. The sun's light was warm, just warm enough to be comfortable. There was a gentle breeze.

"Pretty!" Kaori squealed.

"Woooowwwww." Link's eyes were wide, staring at the fields before them. "This is pretty!"

"I have to admit, this is nice." Joey blinked a few times, looking around.

"Hoo-hoot!" a sudden, loud hooting sound causing even Navi and Kurama to jump in surprise. "Hoo!"

"Huh?" Katara looked up with everyone else towards the source of the noise and a large owl was perched on a tree branch above them.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Link let out a bloodcurdling scream that caused everyone to jump again and caused Navi to fall of his head. She flickered her silver-blue aura in annoyance. The young boy made a mad dash, starting to run from the owl in abject terror, but Kurama calmly held the shivering boy in place.

"I am Kaepora Gaebora." the owl spoke, twisting his head around a couple of times.

"It….!" Link screamed again, trying to run away again. Kurama once again held him in place and the young hero clung to the redhead, cowering in melodramatic fear.

"It….spoke." Katara blinked her blue eyes in confusion.

"I see you all are starting off on a grand adventure!" Kaepora spoke gleefully. "You children are looking for the princess, no? Well, you have to make it to Hyrule Castle Town, on the other side of this field!"

"Hyrule Castle Town." Aya took a mental note, glancing briefly at Link, who still clung to Kurama.

"Though, you must get to town before night falls. The fields are crawling with monsters at night!" Kaepora said, joy still in his deep voice. "Getting stuck in the fields at night is dangerous to do!"

"He sounds way too happy talking about us getting stuck in field of monsters all night." Aya said dryly.

"I agree." Katara nodded.

"MAKE IT GO AWAY." Link wailed.

"Well then. We will meet again, children!" Kaepora nodded and flapped his wings a couple of times before flying away.

"I think I'm scarred for life." Joey stated bluntly.

"Tell me about it." Katara sighed.

"Well, then." Kurama, who was being held in a death grip by the terrified boy, seemed less than fazed by the situation. He seemed unusually calm by both the giant talking owl and the young boy hugging him in fear. With a look of complete indifference on his face, he pried Link off of him gently before reassuring him that the owl, in fact, did not want his soul and that everything was fine.

"Oh, okay." Link's goofy smile returned. "If Kurama says so, then it must be true! He seems smart!" With that, the party began walking.

"For a bunch of people who were ripped from their worlds and thrown together by some divine intervention, we seem pretty calm." Aya said off-handedly.

"I noticed that." Kurama coolly placed his hands in his pockets. "It's not in my nature to take things lightly, so this is a bit weird for me."

"This is you taking things lightly?" Joey turned to the redhead. "I haven't seen a fazed expression on you at all, even after the giant spider that tried to eat us."

"If you lived on my world, my attitude would make much more sense, I assure you." Kurama responded.

"You all are so…different." Navi said, taking her place on Link's head again. "I mean, you all look so different, but so are your personalities."

"At least there's an even split of girls and guys." Katara lifted a finger. "Everything's even. And we're all close in age. I'm sure we'll get along nicely."

"Whatever. You already seem impossible." Joey looked off to the side.

"What was that?" Katara glared an icy glare at the blond, whose eyebrow twitched. "What do you mean by that?" With that, the two erupted into an argument that everyone else tuned out.

"Well, we'll all get along except for those two." Aya sighed.

"That cloud up there looks like meatloaf!" Link was looking up at the sky, paying to heed to his two companions verbally biting each other's heads off.

"There are no clouds up there." Kaori had followed Link's line of sight.

"You idiot, keep going!" Navi bonked the boy on the head, earning a whimper of defeat. After awhile of walking and listening to heated arguing, the sun was beginning to set.

"Run!" Navi announced. "The owl wasn't crazy. I don't feel like being stuck in a field of monsters all night! Kick into high gear, kids!" The group took the fairy's warning seriously and began running as fast as they could. Kaori kept a hold of Link's hand, since the boy had proven himself clumsy, and Navi flew quickly near the front of the party. She noticed that Kurama was the quickest of the party, having a good distance between him and the rest. Soon, a large city surrounded by stone walls and drawbridge came into sight.

"The drawbridge will close as soon as night begins to fall!" Navi called to the party. "Hurry!"

"I'm goin' as fast as I can!" Joey yelled. After a few minutes of running, the party was quite close to the city, but heard the telltale creaking sound of the drawbridge.

"Crap!" Joey yelled in frustration.

"Jump!" Navi ordered.

"Jump?" the tall blond asked in exasperation.

"Yes, jump!" Navi yelled "Do you want to spend the night with monsters?"

"I get the point! Jeez!" Joey twitched.

"I don't know if I can jump that high!" Aya said.

"Kurama, can you?" Navi turned.

"Yes, of course." The redhead responded.

"Better yet, can you throw?" the fairy inquired urgently.

"Um…If you insist." Kurama just nodded. Following the fairy's command, Kurama nodded apologetically to Kaori before grabbing her and tossing her as gently as he could over the rising drawbridge, causing her to squeal in shock. Kurama did the same thing with Link, who screamed "WEEEEE I'M FLYING" in pure delight.

"Joey, grab Katara and jump!" Navi ordered the blond.

"Here goes nothing!" Joey grabbed the blue-clad girl, who yelped in surprise. Joey made a clumsy dash forward before making a very ungraceful and even more un-epic leap over the slowly rising drawbridge. Just in time, too, as the drawbridge was almost up. Navi flew over it, and Kurama just simply grabbed Aya and leapt over the drawbridge, landing gracefully on the cobblestone ground.

"My face hurts…" Joey moaned, lying on the ground with his face pressed against the cobblestone, his hand twitching in pain.

"Is everyone alright?" Kurama asked as he stood up brushing himself off. He helped Aya up before turning over the rest of the party. Kaori was standing, dazed, by fine. Link was lying on his back, a goofy but satisfied grin on his face. Katara was on the ground, rubbing her back, twitching in anger. Kurama walked over and pulled Link up into a standing position and apologized to Kaori for throwing her.

"That was fun. Can we do that again?" Link turned to everyone else, who all shook their heads in response.

"Joey, you idiot!" Katara stood up, still twitching.

"I got us over the thingy, didn't I?" Joey stood up too, brushing his face off.

"I hate to interrupt what will be another heartfelt conversation, I'm sure, but it's nighttime and you all need to rest." Navi said, sitting back down on Link's head.

"Where do we do that?" Joey asked.

"Well, our options are limited." Kurama shrugged. "We don't have much money, but it should be enough to buy something to eat tomorrow. So, we just have to find somewhere to sleep."

"Wait…we have money?" Joey's eyes widened.

"Yes. We found it in the Great Deku Tree and in some bushes." Kurama held up a bag. "Navi left me in charge of it after giving me a brief explanation of the currency here."

"Dare I inquire why a divine, talking tree had money inside of it?" Aya turned to Navi.

"There are some things I just don't question." Navi responded dryly. "But yeah. Whatever. I figured if we were stuck together, I might as well let the most reasonable of you kids take care of finances."

"Probably a good idea to leave Kurama in charge of the money." Aya nodded in agreement. "How does the currency work, anyways?"

"We use 'rupees' here as currency." Navi blandly explained. "Green is '1' rupee, blue is '5' rupees, red is worth '10' rupees, and purple is worth '50' rupees."

"Gotcha." Aya nodded.

"Huh?" Link and Joey both said at the same time.

"Ignore it." Katara rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, you all need to sleep." Navi said, looking around.

"We need cloaked sheep?" Link looked up at the fairy. "Why are the sheep cloaked?"

"Link, shut up." Navi sighed. "Hey, look, this alley looks cozy. You all will sleep here. Make yourselves comfortable." The party just shrugged, deciding that an alley was better than a monster-infested field. The sauntered off to the darkest, quietest end of the alley, using their bags as pillows. Luckily, it wasn't a very cold night; just cool enough to be comfortable.

"Well…Uh….Good night?" Katara offered, snuggling against her bag as much as she could to be comfortable. But cobblestones, stone walls, crates and leather bags didn't make for fashionable or comfortable sleeping arrangements. The party made due, anyways.

"Yep. Good night. I mean, it has been a long day? Has it been a day?" Aya turned.

"I lost track." Kaori said confusedly.

"I guess it doesn't matter now, but I'm sure we're all tired." Kurama said calmly, leaning against a wall. "Good night, everyone."

"Don't do anything you might regret, kiddies." Joey said playfully, earning a swift kick to the shins from Katara. He curled up in pain.

"Anything I might regret? Liking eating poisoned cheesecake and dancing with giant spiders in robes?" Link asked honestly.

"Link, just sleep." Navi said dryly, lying on a crate.

"Okay!"

**A/n**: Okay, there you have it folks, the next updated chapter. I don't have much to say, other than I fleshed some things out to make the chapter longer.

Whatever. Review, please.


	5. The Castle

**A/n: **This chapter has been revised. Hooray! Enjoy the new, revamped chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Zelda. Sucks, I know.

**Chapter 5: The Castle**

"My back hurts." Joey whined, sitting up and rubbing his back and yawning in a sleep-induced stupor. The rest of the party was too busy waking up themselves to tell Joey to shut up and stop complaining, trying to stretch the kinks out of their backs. Sleeping on cobblestone was no good for the back muscles, after all.

"It's still early." Navi yawned a bit, looking around the alley. The warm morning sun was blanketing the marketplace, waking up the citizens as they began to set up their businesses for another day of bartering with irritable customers. The dark corner the party had settled themselves into to sleep last night was no longer dark; as the morning had washed away what shadows that had covered them. Now, the party stood there, cleaning themselves to their best abilities.

"I had a good dream about green fish and popsicles last night." Link said standing up, his sky blue eyes suddenly alit with their usually dimwittedness. "Did you know that green fish popsicles taste like watermelon?"

"No, Link." Navi sighed loudly. "We were keenly unaware of that fact."

"What about sandwiches?" Joey turned, clearly still half in dreamland.

"Nothing about sandwiches!" Katara jabbed her elbow into Joey's side, his amber eyes widening awake in pain.

"Ow, jeez, okay." Joey rubbed the spot on his side, a look of defeat on his face. "Without food, I can't fight the evil anymore…"

"Evil?" Katara's eyes were icy. "Who are you calling evil?"

"You jab me in the ribcage and you wonder why I call you evil?" Joey twitched. "That hurts!"

"Man up and deal." Katara stood on her tiptoes, meeting eye level with her opponent.

"Ignoring that." Navi turned around. "Joey did have a good point. Y'all need food."

"I feel weak without food." Aya said. "I don't remember when I last ate. That's probably not good."

"Let's solve that problem then." Kurama nodded in agreement pulling out the money. Katara and Joey ceased in their fighting and the party left they alley and found themselves in a bustling marketplace full of stands, shops and people.

"How about the girls wait here while the rest of us try and get food?" Kurama suggested.

"Ladies first. I like that." Aya shrugged her shoulders in satisfaction.

"Whatever." Joey started walking, pushing Link, who was staring a spot on the ground he swore looked like a horse, along. "Come on, buddy."

"Okay!" Link said in a positively ditzy tone. The three guys, accompanied by Navi, went off to search the market for food, and eventually came back with sandwiches. The party ate their breakfast, relieved to have food in their system again. With that, the party stood, aimlessly, in the center of the marketplace square.

"This is productive." Aya said dryly, crossing her arms.

"So….Where is the chick-person?" Link looked up at Navi.

"The princess is in the castle, obviously." the fairy responded, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Where is that?"

"Link, shut up."

"But…but…" Link looked away in defeat.

"Where is the castle?" Joey turned towards Kurama.

"I assume it is the giant, fancy building in the distance." Kurama pointed calmly.

"Where?" Link and Joey turned in unison, only to grow wide eyes and say "Oooohhhhh" at the same time.

"Yeah. That's the castle." Navi said. The party took that as their next destination and walked on, down a path that led out of the city and to near the front gates of the castle. There were guards at the gates of the castle, keeping their careful eye out for intruders.

"We're stuck!" Link wailed melodramatically, though he was swiftly cut off by Navi, who bonked the poor boy on the head to silence him.

"The guards obviously won't let a bunch of kids with a glowing green stone and a fairy into the see the princess." Aya said. "It isn't as if we can walk up and tell them that we're on an important mission from the talking tree in the forest."

"If only life were that easy." Kurama said off-handedly, taking a look around their surroundings. "It appears we'll have to find a way to sneak into the castle."

"Like spies!" Link cheered.

"Right. Good idea." Navi sighed.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Kaori asked hesitantly.

"Only if we get caught." Aya turned.

"Joey and Link shouldn't be allowed to speak or they'll give us away." Katara pointed out immediately.

"Why am I included in that?" Joey turned to the girl.

"For obvious reasons." Katara looked off to the side.

"Why you!" the two were about to erupt into another heated argument about trivial things when the entire party heard a song in the distance. The party walked a little further and found a girl, not much older than Link, it seemed, swaying back and forth lightly to a simple, melancholy song that she sang. Her voice was surprisingly beautiful for such a small child. She was pale and petite, a delicately rounded face with a small nose that would almost make her seem snobbish if it wasn't for the satisfied, cheerful smile on her face. She had long, fiery orange hair and bright blue eyes. Her thin frame was covered by what was a simple, cream colored farm dress, accented by a yellow bandana and chunky brown work boots.

"That's a really pretty song!" Kaori seemed amazed and the girl stopped her song and turned at the sight of the strange party.

"Oh!" the girl smiled. "Hi! You all look new around here. I've never seen you guys in the town before!"

"Um…We are new." Katara answered.

"Jellyfish?" Link turned around, clearly not paying attention, and breaking the moment.

"Anyways." Navi ignored Link, as did everyone else.

"My name's Malon." Malon introduced herself. "And you all?" Everyone quickly introduced themselves.

"What are you doing here in front of the palace?" Aya inquired.

"My father owns the best ranch in Hyrule, Lon Lon Ranch!" Malon explained. "It's really cool! There are a lot horses and cows. Anyways, our cows produce the best milk in all of Hyrule. So, my dad comes weekly to deliver milk to the castle."

"Oh." Aya shrugged. "So, you're waiting?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "My dad has been gone since yesterday afternoon. A lady in town was kind enough to let me stay with her but I came here in hopes that Dad would be done and he's not! Lazy bum! He probably fell asleep on the job again!"

"Isn't that some form of child neglect?" Aya looked up at Kurama.

"I would assume, but I guess that is beside the point." Kurama nodded in agreement.

"What are y'all doing here?" Malon's voice seemed very excited. "You all look important. You have a forest fairy, too! You all are from the forest? Is it cool? Do you like forests? Do you like town? Is this your first time going to town?"

"…" the party was slightly taken aback with the barrage of questions.

"Yeah…" Navi was about to continue but was cut off by the eager girl's interrogation.

"Are you here to see the princess?" Malon asked, her eyes wide with anticipation.

"Is she psychic?" Aya turned.

"It seems like it." Joey rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, you all will have a hard time getting in." Malon kicked her feet against the ground, slightly embarrassed, having caught herself in her hyperactive questioning.

"Hmm…" Kurama seemed to be in thought. "The vines on this wall look like they can be climbed."

"What are you getting at?" Joey turned to the redhead.

"These vines, presumably, lead to the top of this earthen wall." Kurama began to explain. "We can just sneak over the gate using this wall, and sneak into the castle from there."

"I like that he's smart." Aya said. "I never would have figured that out."

"Climbing!" Link was very enthusiastic. "Let's go climbing! It'll be fun!"

"Wait!" Malon held a hand out. "I have a favor to ask y'all. When you get to the castle, can you find my father for me?"

"Sure!" Link did a thumbs-up before clumsily climbing up the wall. The rest of the party said goodbye to Malon as they followed their ditzy leader.

"Thanks, y'all! Come see me at the ranch sometime!" Malon waved cheerfully. "Have fun!"

"She was way too perky." Joey said once the party was on top of the wall.

"I thought she was nice." Katara shrugged. "But she was a bit more hyperactive than Link."

"Link isn't hyperactive more so than distracted." Navi pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess." Katara agreed. After that, the party began sneaking across the wall and over the gates, following Kurama's lead, since he seemed to be the smartest. As quietly as they could with Link in tow, they came to the top of the gates, and quietly hopped down to the ground, darting as fast as they could to a corner.

"Okay, step one down." Aya rubbed some sweat from her forehead.

"Yeah, but can we really make it across that giant yard before someone sees us?" Joey turned to the fairy.

"You never know with Link." Navi responded simply. Before anyone could stop him, Link called out "Charge!" and began dashing mindless through the giant yard. Luckily, it wasn't a loud call and no guards managed to hear it. The party all began scrambling after their green-clad leader, darting from tree to tree and bush to bush before making safely to the other side.

"You have no concept of the word 'quiet', you moron!" Navi said, irritated. Link looked up with big blue puppy-like eyes. "Don't give me the puppy eyes. Sneaking past guards means being _quiet_."

"I thought it was fun." Link looked off to the side.

"You do have the luck of the goddesses, I'll give you that." Navi plopped herself on Link's head. "There are more vines here that you all can climb up."

"But what do we do from there?" Kaori asked, looking around. "The entrance is right there."

"We already established that the entrance was off-limits." Aya turned to her friend.

"I know…but…I mean…never mind!" Kaori stuttered.

"We can swim through the moat, over to there." Kurama pointed. "No one will notice us, since the moat goes right under the entrance, and we have a better chance of finding a side-entrance we can sneak through." The party nodded, since it was their only option and they climbed up the wall and bravely hopped into the moat, Link letting out an excited squeal in doing so. Joey whispered "Canon Ball" while he jumped in. As stealthily as they could, they followed the moat's current to the other side of the castle, climbing out and lying on the ground near a side entrance.

"I hate moats." Joey said, sitting up.

"It worked, though." Navi responded while Katara used her abilities to dry everyone off.

"That game was fun." Link turned. "What's the next game?"

"It's not a game!" Navi twitched. Suddenly, the party was silenced by a horrible, loud noise coming from a ways off, towards the side-entrance they were seeking.

"What the hell?" Joey lifted an eyebrow, following the noise with everyone else. The party then found a short, squatty man lying on his side, casually sleeping against a milk crate on the stone grounds. He was a plump man with slightly tanned skin, and while he was a bit overweight, it was clear that he was a strong man. He had dark brown hair, though he was balding, and a brown mustache. He wore simple farming overalls and a red shirt with a bandanna, much similar to Malon's bandanna.

"Um…" Aya blinked a few times.

"Hey, Link, grab one of your sticks and poke him." Joey turned. The young boy happily obliged, whipping out a Deku Stick and poking the fat man from a distance.

"Joey!" Katara scolded him. "That's rude!"

"What? It works, right?" Joey argued.

"Poke? Poke? Poke?" Link said with each poke. By accident, Link's poking became too hard and he accidentally poked the man in the eye.

"What in tarnation?" the man jolted awake, knocking Link back on his behind. "Ow! My eye! What is going on?"

"Wake up time!" Link threw his harms in the air, jumping up and dancing with his Deku Stick, singing a strange song about cuccos and waking up.

"Ow…" the man rubbed his eye, freezing at Link's song.

"Ignore him." Aya said. "Everyone else does."

"Can't a person get a little shuteye around here?" the man asked himself before turning to the party. Navi bonked Link on the head and the boy stopped singing. "What is going on? Who are you kids? Never seen you before." Everyone gave their quick introductions.

"Who are you anyways?" Joey asked.

"I'm Talon, the owner of Lon Lon Ranch. I'm here at the castle delivering milk." Talon pointed behind him to some crates full of milk bottles. "What is a group of kids like you doing here at the castle?"

"Your daughter asked us to come find you." Kurama explained smoothly, placing his hands in his pockets. "You see, you fell asleep and she has been waiting for you to come back since yesterday."

"Wait…Malon!" Talon exclaimed, slapping himself in the forehead. "Malon! I told her I'd be only a few minutes. I promised her! But I sat down for a break…and…Oh no! I'm going to get it from her now!"

"Well, she's waiting for you at the entrance of the castle." Navi said.

"Thank you all!" Talon nodded in acknowledgement. "But I need to leave real quick-like. Come by some time and I'll thank you! Oh, how I'm going to get it from her now! Ahh!" Talon screamed in frustration and fear as he ran as fast as he could away from the castle.

"He seemed kind of scared." Kaori tapped her chin.

"How can he be scared of someone so freakishly cheerful?" Aya asked, turning to the rest of the party.

"I have no idea…" Joey said. "But she scared me so…"

"What do we do now that we've found her father? How do we get in?" Katara got back to the point.

"The side entrance is locked." Kurama still had his hands casually in his pockets. "But look up there." Kurama pointed up to a crawlspace on a ledge on the other side of the moat." Navi flew over the space and flew through it. After a moment, she flew back out.

"That leads into the castle gardens." Navi explained. "There are so many bushes; you should be able to sneak in easily." Kurama had already begun pushing the milk crates around, with Aya's help, and had made a small tower the party could use to jump over to the ledge. With that, the party jumped over and squeezed themselves through the crawlspace.

"So, we just sneak on by, right?" Joey asked.

"No, you walk up the guards and ask to have tea with them." Navi said sarcastically. "Yes! Just don't get caught."

"Kaori, cover Link's mouth." Aya ordered.

"But!" Kaori blushed.

"I'm with Aya." Navi agreed and there was a chorus of nods.

"Is this part of the game?" Link asked obliviously.

"Yes." Navi nodded and Kaori hesitantly covered Link's mouth. With that, the party began to sneak there way through the large, beautiful gardens, which were crawling with royal guards. Two at a time, the party darted from one clump of bushes to the next, with Link's being silenced the whole way. After a few mishaps and Joey almost tripping and getting the caught, the party had maneuvered their way through the gardens, successfully making their way past the guards.

"Whew…We made it!" Joey wiped the sweat from his neck. The party had managed to get themselves into an unguarded area of the garden, far off from the rest of the area. It was surrounded by beautifully crafted stone walls and was filled with lush, green grass and intricate arrangements of flowers bright shades of blue, pink and violet.

"Seriously." Katara sighed loudly.

"This is the best game ever!" Link cheered. "Next time, we should have rings of fire and dancing bumblebees to make it more fun. And music. Lots of salsa music."

"Right." Navi ignored Link's rant.

"Yay!" Link cheered loudly.

"Who…Who are you all?" a light, girlish voice caught the attention of the party and they turned to see a girl staring at them defiantly from the other side of the garden. She looked important, and despite her frail, petite appearance, she had a noble aura of authority around her. The party took a few steps closer and saw that she stared hesitantly at the group with rich, amethyst colored eyes. Her skin was pale, like that of a porcelain doll, and there were strands of golden hair coming out from her white and purple headdress. She wore a slim gown, layered with various shades of cream and violet.

"Um…Hi." Joey lifted a hand. "We come in peace?"

"Hi!" Link waved happily at the frightened girl.

"You…." Her eyes narrowed as she inspected them. "You! You all! You all came from the forest, no?"

"Yeah!" Link didn't really know what was going on but was happy to answer nonetheless.

"I had a dream!" the girl clapped her hands together in glee, letting out a soft laugh, her voice high and pretty like a wind chime. "In this dream, the sky was dark and ominous, like a terrible storm was on the horizon. Everything seemed empty and hopeless. But suddenly, from the forest, came a figure holding a green, glowing stone, with a fairy following him. And following behind this figure were five other figures, glowing green, purple, yellow, blue and red! It was magnificent, like they represented hope or something."

"…" the party was slightly taken aback.

"Oh, wait! How rude of me…" the girl placed her hands behind her back sheepishly. "I haven't even introduced myself. Perhaps, this will make more sense. My name is Zelda. I am the princess of Hyrule."

"Is she the chick-person?" Link looked up at Navi, who nodded her head.

"Yes. We were looking for the princess." Navi sounded exasperated at the young boy's obliviousness.

"You all are the ones from my dream then!" Zelda seemed excited. "I knew that was a premonition! My father thought I was crazy!" Everyone introduced themselves.

"Link…Kaori…Kurama…Katara…Joey…Aya…Navi…" Zelda recited, as if making a mental checklist. "Six figures and a fairy…There's no mistaking it! You have to be the ones from my dream! Do you have the stone?"

"You mean this pretty thing the tree gave me?" Link pulled out the sparkling green stone.

"Oh, wonderful!" Zelda smiled. "This is great! Okay, listen to what I have to say. First off, come here and look through this window. It shows me what's going on in the throne room. I believe the storm in my dream represents this man." The party obliged the princess's wishes and they took a peak through the window. Kneeling in front of what the party assumed to be the King was a tall, muscular man. He had deeply tanned skin and orange-red hair, some slightly slicked back in a fashionable style. He was clad completely in black armor, with a red came and few white accents. As he knelt, his eyes were shut, but suddenly, he turned towards the window and glared at the party with frightening yellow eyes, wrinkling his long noise in anger.

"Holy Nayru!" Link exclaimed falling back, causing everyone else to fall back.

"Okay, I see why you think he's the storm." Aya got up and turned to Zelda. "He practically screams 'Hey, I'm evil!'"

"What's going on, though?" Katara turned to the princess.

"You all heard of the creation story, right?" Zelda was answered by nods. "Well, the Goddesses left behind a relic called the Triforce when they left the mortal world. This relic is housed in a special place called the 'Sacred Realm'. I believe that man, Ganondorf, wants that relic!"

"What's so special about the Triforce?" Joey asked, earning a jab to the ribs from Katara.

"Ow!" Joey held his side.

"The Triforce can grant someone unbelievable power." Zelda said. "The Spiritual Stones, like the one you have, are the keys to entering the Sacred Realm. The other key is this." Zelda held out a delicate ocarina, decorated and beautiful, colored in powder blue and trimmed in silver with the Triforce insignia.

"Hey, another ocarina!" Link pulled out his gift from Saria.

"This is the Ocarina of Time." Zelda placed it back in her pocket. "Now, listen carefully. There are two other Spiritual Stones, the ruby of fire and the sapphire of water. Will you help me?"

"Sure!" Link cheered. "What do we do? Is it another game?"

"Link, shut up." Navi ordered.

"Help me, please." Zelda begged. "Go retrieve the other two stones and report back to me. If we work together, we can beat Ganondorf! I know if he obtains the power of the Triforce, he'll do something terrible."

"Shouldn't your father know about this?" Aya lifted an eyebrow.

"My father thinks I'm worried over nothing. He believes Ganondorf is loyal to him, since, after all, Ganondorf rules over the desert people." Zelda looked down, her violet eyes sad. "But I've told him time and time again about my visions and he won't listen. It doesn't matter now."

"The princess speaks the truth." A deep but feminine voice caused the party to jump out of their skins (well, everyone but Kurama). The party turned around to see a tall, muscular woman dressed like a warrior staring down at them. Despite her strong musculature and stern appearance, there was softness in her garnet colored eyes, a motherly glow to her tanned skin.

"This is my servant and bodyguard, Impa." Zelda introduced the woman. After that, she perfectly recited everyone's names to Impa. "Everyone, she is the only one who believes my visions are true. She'll help us."

"Indeed." Impa nodded. "The princess is quite the prophet."

"Impa, will you teach them the song and help them out of the castle?" Zelda asked. "I would hate for them to get caught by the guards."

"Of course, princess." Impa nodded before turning to the party.

"Oh! Wait!" Zelda squealed, whirling around to some of her belongings on a bench. She whipped out piece of paper and a quill, dipping it quickly in ink and scribbled down a letter, folding it neatly and handing it to Kurama, the closest person in the party. "Take this letter! It should help you!"

"Thank you." Kurama placed the letter in his bag.

"Before I get you out…" Impa turned to Link, who was staring a flower he swore looked like lightning bug. "Young lad, pull out your ocarina. Together, I shall teach you a special song."

"Okay!" Link pulled out his gift. Impa whistled a soft lullaby, sweet and short, but very pretty, and nodded at Link to follow the melody to his best ability. The party, including Navi, expected this to be a tone-deaf, ear-bleeding disaster, but Link perfectly followed Impa's lead; not missing a single note in the lovely lullaby that he was being taught. Together, they played the final notes of the song.

"Okay. I'm impressed." Aya blinked in confusion.

"Agreed." Kurama smiled. "Link has quite the talent for music, it would seem."

"Okay, so the boy calls trees monsters with green hair, thinks sneaking around a garden full of angry guards is a game and has dreams about dancing skulls and watermelon-flavored fish popsicles, but he's a musical prodigy?" Navi asked in sheer exasperation.

"What about indigo fire ducks?" Link looked up at Navi, who only sighed loudly in both defeat and annoyance.

"Alright then. Allow me to escort you out of the castle." Impa nodded. "It will make your life easier, I'm sure."

"Good luck and thank you, everyone!" Zelda waved enthusiastically. After awhile, Impa led the party out of the castle and out into the fields in front of Hyrule Castle Town.

"You know, I just thought of something." Aya turned to the party. "Zelda said that, in her dream, there were five glowing figures, right?"

"Yes." Kurama nodded. "It would appear our presence here isn't a mere coincidence."

"Well, yeah." Katara thought. "The colors the figures were glowing were the colors the five of us seem to affiliate ourselves with, right? I'm blue, Kurama's green, Kaori's purple, Aya's yellow and I assume Joey's red."

"Well, the orb-thing I touched was red, so sure, why not?" Joey shrugged.

"Yes, you all are very important." Impa crossed her arms. "You all and Link are very special, I can sense it."

"So, we aren't just a bunch of idiotic kids?" Aya asked.

"No. A bunch of kids, yes, but one day, I have a feeling you will all become strong warriors. Trust me; I know who is a true warrior and who is not. You all have the spirits of true warriors." Impa nodded in encouragement, her eyes soft and mother-like. "I believe, if you try hard enough, you will all come to understand that. Try your best and grow stronger. If you all put your hearts into it, I believe you all will find hidden talents you never knew you had."

"Thanks!" Link seemed happy with that.

"Anyways, look." Impa instructed and the party turned to follow her line of sight, looking at a mountain. "That is Death Mountain. The Gorons live there and I believe they have the fire ruby. At the base of that mountain is a village called Kakariko. I was raised there and the people are friendly and helpful. Stop by on your way."

"Sweet." Joey pumped a fist.

"And I'm not sure if you will remember this piece of information, after you obtain the fire ruby, follow that river and eventually you'll find the Zora people, who have the sapphire." Impa said. "I bid you all farewell, at that. Good luck. I'm sure you'll do just fine." Impa took a step back, nodding at the party before throwing down something and vanishing in a flash.

"Let's get a move on, then." Navi instructed.

"Right!" Link threw a finger forward. "Charge!"

**A/n: **There, everything is more fleshed out. Hooray!


	6. A Couple of Detours

**A/n: **Here is the revamped chapter. Yay.

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Zelda.

**Chapter 6: A Couple of Detours**

"What do we do now?" Katara asked, breaking a small silence. Impa had just left them to their own devices after escorting them out of the castle, but the party had just stood there outside the castle down, dumbfounded.

"I suggest we go back to the forest." Navi said, and everyone turned their heads.

"I thought the point was to leave the forest." Joey asked.

"Not really." the fairy said dryly. "I was saying that I'm sure we all feel bad about leaving Saria so suddenly. The girl did seem a bit confused. Let's go back and tell here what's going on. I'm sure she wants to know."

"Yeah! I want to say hi to Saria anyways!" Link twirled around to face the group. "I want to show her I'm doing fine on my own now!"

"So to the forest?" Aya asked before Link interrupted again.

"I want to see that one chick's place." Link waved his hands. "She said there were horses! I want to see one!"

"The ranch?" Kaori cocked her head. "I want to go see the horses, too!"

"Well, I guess we better make sure that Talon eventually found Malon." Kurama shrugged his shoulders. "Let's go to the ranch first, then. It's closer than the forest."

"I agree." Joey stretched his arms out.

"To the thing with the place….I mean the place with the thing!" Link called out in a dimwitted but enthusiastic tone, charging forward with a finger pointing in what he assumed to be the right direction.

"Link." Navi said simply. "You're walking about into the castle town."

"Huh?" Link turned, his blue eyes wide. Navi sighed loudly. "It's this way."

"What's that way? The purple monkeys?" Link asked, his eyes still wide in confusion.

"This way, Link." Kurama gently turned the confused boy around.

"Oh!" Link charged forward again proudly, now going in the right direction. "To the place with the things! Go!" The party started walking for awhile, eventually getting to where the ranch was within sight.

"I guess that's it." Joey stared. "It's huge!"

"Are you sure we weren't supposed to turn left at the small furry green monsters?" Link looked up at Kurama.

"No. The 'furry green monsters' were just deceiving you." Kurama said, a hint of sarcasm mixed with the understanding tone of his voice. "It's this way, I assure you."

"Furry green monsters?" Aya asked, lifting a delicate eyebrow.

"Bushes." Navi turned, stating this as if it were simply a fact. She surprised herself with the straightforwardness in her voice and flickered her silver-blue aura in annoyance. "Damn it, Link!"

"Link did what?" Link turned, his eyes wide again.

"Just start walking, buddy." Joey gently pushed the boy, a look of amusement in his amber eyes. "This kid amuses me."

"He is pretty entertaining." Aya put her hands behind her head casually as they walked. "Never a dull moment, that's for sure."

"Does dull have anything to do with the green furry monsters?" Link looked up. "The word dull reminds me of the furry monsters."

"Um…No." Aya just went along with it. Eventually, the party made it to the ranch, walking through the giant gates. The ranch was as huge on the inside as it seemed on the outside. Beyond the giant gates, they were greeted to the picture of peace and serenity. Flocks of cuccos skittered about around piles of seeds. A little ways off from the entrance was a large farmhouse and across from it was a huge barn. Walking farther in, they could hear the cows mooing and horses were freely running to and fro.

"This is-AHHHHH!" Link wailed loudly all of a sudden, a horse running by the group. "MAKE IT GO AWAY." Link jumped behind the redhead in abject terror.

"Link, it's just a horse." Kurama laughed a bit. "The talking owl, yes, I understand you being terrified of that, but the horse is just fine. You wanted to see one, right?"

"That…is a horse?" Link looked at the horse run by them. It was a pretty horse, and there were plenty more in various shades and sizes running around. "They are…pretty!"

"I've never met anyone as random as Link." Katara shook her head. The party continued on and began to hear a familiar, melancholy tune being sung from within a giant corral.

"I think I hear Ms. Freakishly Perky herself." Aya crossed her arms in amusement. "I wonder if she'll interrogate us to death again."

"Question Super Attack. Go!" Joey laughed a bit.

"Oh, quit being so mean." Kaori turned.

"I jest." Aya said sarcastically, lifting a hand.

"Hello Horse!" Link waved to one running by, enthusiasm practically radiating off of him. Even the horse had a "what the hell" look on its face as it ran by the cheerful boy.

"Oh!" Malon's eyes grew wide with excitement. "Hi y'all! I didn't expect you to come visit so soon! I'm glad!"

"We were curious." Katara looked around. "This ranch is really pretty."

"I love it here." Malon said, continuing to comb a small fowl that she had at her side. It was small and cute, an auburn red color with a white mane. There was a series of five other baby fowls, all various colors. "Oh! And thank y'all for finding my father. That lazy bum!"

"I've heard of people sleeping on the job, but I've never heard of a father abandoning his daughter to do so for an entire evening." Aya shrugged her shoulders.

"I know. Dad felt terrible, though." Malon said simply. "He hasn't stopped apologizing since!" Meanwhile, Link was attempting to poke one the horse Malon was combing, but it whinnied and ran away.

"IT HATES ME WAHHHH" Link wailed melodramatically.

"Oh! Don't worry about that." Malon cheerfully reassured. "This is Epona. She's skittish, that's all."

"But…But…But…" Link sniffled.

"Here! I've got an idea." Malon clapped. "If you want Epona to like you, then I'll teach you the song I always sing. Epona loves that song."

"Link, pull you your ocarina." Navi ordered. The boy obliged and turned to Malon.

"Oh, what a pretty ocarina!" Malon clapped. She began to sing some notes of her song, nodding at Link to follow along when he got the hang of it. Link didn't need any time at all and began to follow the notes of the song perfectly. Link and Malon continued their duet for a few minutes, the already pretty song made even more beautiful by Link's flawless accompaniment.

"It still amazes me that a ditzy kid who calls bushes furry monsters can play songs perfectly without any practice at all." Navi commented dryly, plopping herself down on Link's head. At that moment, Epona crept up the young boy and nuzzled him, clearly happy and beginning to take a liking to the boy.

"SHE LIKES ME!" Link seemed absolutely thrilled, petting the horse. The other baby fowls began to creep up to the rest the party.

"This is odd. But kind of cute." Aya said as she reached out and pet one of the fowls inspecting the party.

"They're so cute!" Kaori squealed, practically hugging on of the horses.

"This hose looks badass." Joey smirked, petting a small, black fowl.

"I wouldn't call a baby horse badass, Joey." Aya turned, laughing a bit.

"I think it is." Joey crossed his arms. "And look at this guy's face. He thinks he's badass, too."

"Actually, Joey, that's a girl." Malon giggled, clearly amused.

"Oh." Joey stared, blushing a bit in confusion. "She's still badass."

"Hey, I'm sure you all are having fun bonding with horses, but can we speed it up a bit?" Navi said from her place on Link's head. "We are in a bit of a time crunch, here."

"Time is crunchy?" Link turned.

"Just go, you dork." Navi rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you all are leaving?" Malon looked up. "Well, I guess if you went to see the princess, then you all must be on important business, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Katara tapped her chin.

"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you!" Malon clapped her hands together. "Go on! Come back and visit us again. The horses do seem to like you."

"Bye!" Link waved perkily. The rest of the party said their farewells and exited the ranch. Once outside, they had to point Link in the right direction, and after that, followed their dimwitted leader towards the forest. After awhile, their conversation seemed to die and a friendly silence arose between them.

"You know what?" Link broke the silence, his tone cheerful but thoughtful.

"What?" Joey looked down at the small boy.

"I'm having fun!" Link gave a big smile.

"You're having fun saving Hyrule?" Kaori piped. "Or traveling?"

"Both!" Link threw his arms in the air, almost causing Navi to fall off of his head. "I feel like we're meant to be together! I'm weird. And you all are weird, too!"

"We are weird, aren't we?" Joey shrugged, agreeing.

"The fact that we're weird is glaringly obvious." Aya looked off to the side. "Not that it's a bad thing."

"You are a strange bunch of kids, I'll give you that." Navi said. "I don't know why the fate of the world is being left in the hands of a bunch of children, though."

"You don't have any faith in us?" Katara turned to the fairy. "I mean, I guess I understand why you wouldn't, but…"

"It's not that." Navi sighed. "It's more like I'm worried it will be too much to handle."

"Joey can take on anything!" Joey pumped a fist, speaking in third-person for effect.

"Yay!" Link threw his arms in the air. "I'm with him!"

"See, that's the spirit." Joey crossed his arms triumphantly. "See, someone appreciates me."

"At least someone does." Katara looked off to the side, crossing her arms.

"I don't care if you don't appreciate me." Joey smirked. "Only cool people understand the awesome that is Joey."

"My definition of awesome and your definition of awesome are two very different definitions, then." Katara said dryly.

"Hey!" Joey glared at the girl, who was twirling a strand of hair with an amused smirk on her face.

"Oh, is 'The Joey' offended?" Katara turned, an uninterested look on her face. "I thought I was too uncool to understand the 'awesome that is Joey'. Ignore me and my uncool opinion."

"Why you…" Joey glared. "This is why I call you evil."

"At least I'm not an idiot like you!" Katara barked.

"At least I'm not evil!"

"I am _not_ evil. You are a moron! Stop poisoning the air with your stupidity!"

"Stop poisoning the air with your evil!"

"Say that again and I'll a freeze your face solid and kick it into small pieces!"

"Try that and see! You aren't all enough to reach up here."

"I _will_ find a way. Don't test me!"

"Another lively conversation, I see." Navi's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Those two are going to kill each other one day." Aya sighed. "They're like fire and water."

"Yes. They are about as compatible as oil and water, aren't they?" Kurama watched the two argue in amusement, his hands in his pockets.

"I hate to cut this argument short, be we need to high-tail it the forest." Navi looked up the sky, which was slowly fading from sky blue to a dark indigo.

"Oh, crap." Aya jumped. "Monsters invade the field at night, don't they?"

"Yeah, and I'm not totally sure if you guys are ready for a full-on monster barrage yet." Navi seemed a bit concerned. "Most of you just started fighting after all."

"Let's try to get to the forest before the sun sets, then." Katara had stopped arguing with Joey. On that note, the party began to run. They thought they were getting close, but a strange, inhuman cry stopped them in their tracks. More of these cries followed the first one.

"What…is that?" Joey seemed alarmed.

"Ah!" Aya jumped back. Surrounding the party and stalking towards them at an alarming speed was a bunch of zombie-like skeleton monsters, all making horrible moaning sounds as the looked towards the group with empty, hungry stares.

"Stalchild." Navi identified. "Yeah, they aren't the strongest, but they can be a problem in large groups. Don't let them decapitate you."

"I'll take that advice to heart." Aya said, still somewhat sarcastic, but mostly freaked out. The party had no choice and began to fight the monsters, and while they were doing well in defeating them, more kept appearing and the number of them kept growing. It was becoming increasingly difficult to defeat them when more kept appearing.

"Hey, don't do that!" Link sliced one of the Stalchild with amazing agility, dodging another one before slicing it up. Katara was attacking the monsters with her water whip, which was proving effective, but she needed the assistance of the one of the stronger fighters to help her finish them off. Kurama was gracefully attacking one monster to the next quickly with his own rose whip, helping out other party members when need be.

"Ahh!" Joey let out a yelp, catching everyone's attention. He was doing well on his own for the most part, but he had been caught off-guard by one and was knocked over on the ground with several jumping on him.

"Joey!" Katara called out, slashing one off with her whip.

"Ah! Joey!" Link's voice filled with worry, but he was preoccupied with the monsters around him.

"There are too many of them to get over there." Aya said, slicing one of the monsters away from her. Kaori shot off an arrow, successfully knocking one of the Stalchild off of Joey.

"Ahhh!" Joey yelped again, buried beneath the pile of Stalchild, who were slowly trying to claw their way past each other to get to Joey. _Damn it, I have to do something! If I don't, these guys are going to eat me! _Joey had his eyes screwed shut, clenching his fists and trying to worm his way out from under the hungry pile, but the sheer weight of them proved to much. _Come on, Joey! Don't give up! Damn! Just….do something! _ Joey, eyes still screwed shut, felt something warm grow inside of him, but he barely paid it any mind. _Am I bleeding?_ _No…_Joey, in a surge of anger, let out another grunt of absolute frustration, feeling even warmer and angrier. With another grunt of effort, Joey suddenly felt the monsters explode off of him, flying carelessly in random directions before landing hard on the ground and breaking part, like broken dolls.

"What…the hell?" Navi had frozen, staring at one of the monsters land carelessly in front of Link. Her eyes widened when she saw that the remains were charred, the broken pieces smoldering before dissipating in the usual mist. She noticed the rest of the Stalchild began going away, clearly frightened. The rest of the smoldering remains of the monsters that were on Joey dissipated away.

"What did I just do?" Joey was on the ground, his sword lying next to him forgotten. The party had frozen in place, staring wide-eyed at the flame engulfing Joey's fist. Joey was pale with shock, staring at the fire flickering on his hand, surprised at the warmth he felt inside.

"Joey's on fire!" Link said, half-surprised, half-amused. "Cool!"

"I…" Joey was still shocked, his amber eyes glowing from the flames.

"Joey…" Katara walked over to the shocked young man and knelt next to him.

"All I did was get angry…" Joey started form actual sentences again. "That's nothing new. I just thought I needed to do something….and got angry…And suddenly, I burst into flames and all those monsters died."

"Okay, I really want to know what the hell is going on now." Navi said, sitting back down on Link's head, in thought.

"What do you mean?" Kaori turned hesitantly to the disturbed fairy.

"What do I mean?" Navi flickered her aura in annoyance. "Joey just burst into flames and incinerated a bunch of monsters that were about to eat him! There's something wrong going on here."

"I guess…" Kaori put her bow away.

"Joey!" Katara yelped in surprise. The young man had fainted and fallen over against Katara. "I guess whatever he did exhausted him…"

"We need to get him somewhere to rest." Navi said. "Let's get back to the forest village, now. You all need rest, too, anyways."

"Agreed." Kurama went over to Joey and picked up, half-dragging him with Joey's arm around his neck. Katara assisted in this endeavor and the party managed to make it to the village.

"Where do we go?" Kurama inquired.

"It's nighttime!" Link snapped his fingers.

"Thanks Captain Obvious, but that's not really answering his question." Navi remarked.

"We can go to my house!" Link said.

"Wow. He actually had an idea." Navi said dryly. The boy led the group to a tree house, and Kurama used his jumping skills to get Joey up there. Once inside, Kurama placed Joey on the bed before turning to everyone else.

"Well, then." Kurama shrugged. "Good night, I suppose." The party made themselves comfortable. The girls all took the floor willingly, while Kurama and settled on one end of a sofa, with Link curled up on the other end and Navi sleeping on a table.

_Morning…_

"Owwww…." Joey's moan broke everyone from dreamland. Everyone shot up, actually, slightly surprised to be awakened by Joey's moan. Well…Everyone but Kurama…who was never surprised, but that was a minor detail. Link, who had jumped on the redhead in surprise, had now crawled off the sofa and went over to Joey.

"Joey!" Katara got up and walked over to the blond, who was rubbing his forehead.

"I had a dream that I burst into flames." Joey said sleepily.

"Uh…Joey. You did." Katara sighed.

"Wait…Crap, I did!" Joey shot up. "What the hell happened?"

"We were fighting monsters, you got buried by them, and you somehow conjured fire to get rid of them all in you anger." Kurama explained.

"Oh…" Joey looked off to the side. "How did I do that?"

"Beats me." Navi said. "There's something funky going on here."

"What do you mean?" Kaori turned.

"Well, we all know you're supposed to be here if the princess's vision is true." Navi started, still sitting on the table she slept on. "You all seemed important. In her vision, Link was in the front, but you all were behind him, glowing specific colors. We later established that the colors you were glowing were the ones you were normally affiliated with, as well as colors of the orbs that sent you here."

"Yes, indeed." Kurama tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I may know what you're implying."

"Well, if you were 'destined' to be here, like we established, then wouldn't it make sense for you to have special abilities?" Navi inquired, earning a hesitant chorus of nods. "Joey's affiliated color is red, right? And he exploded into fire in his desperation to defeat the monsters."

"So, Joey triggered some hidden abilities, didn't he?" Kurama turned.

"Yes." Navi nodded. "Katara and Kurama already had abilities before they came here, that just so happened to be connected to their affiliated colors, blue and green, respectively."

"Wait, are you saying that my water powers are connected to the reason I'm here?" Katara turned, surprised. "In my world, I just thought it was natural because a lot of people could manipulate the elements."

"As did I." Kurama blinked, a bit surprised himself.

"I highly doubt it." Navi shook her head. "It has to be connected somehow."

"I guess it would explain why I learned how to control my powers so quickly, but…" Katara trailed off. "So you're saying I have some sort of connection to the element of water, like Joey has one to the element of fire?"

"Yeah. And Kurama has a connection to the element of earth, I presume." Navi confirmed, earning a nod of agreement from the redhead.

"That's weird." Joey rubbed his head. "I had no special abilities on my world. There were a few people who could do some funky things, but I was normal, through and through. So, I had, like, dormant powers or something this entire time?"

"I'm guessing." Navi shrugged, flying off of the table. "I can't really guess what Kaori or Aya's element is, because purple and yellow could mean several different elements, so we'll just wait and see."

"Sounds like a plan." Aya shrugged. The party left the conversation at that, cleaned up and went off to find Saria. They talked to a few of the villagers, finally establishing that she went to the Lost Woods. Navi led the way and the party found themselves in the middle of a large labyrinth of tunnels and trees. In the distance, they heard a cheerful, catchy song.

"That sounds like the song Saria listens too!" Link said enthusiastically. "But I don't know how to get to her."

"If we follow the song through the tunnels, it might lead us to her." Kurama shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Hoo-hoo!" the loud hooting sound of Kaepora Gaebora caught everyone's attention, causing Link to scream in terror and leap behind Kurama.

"MAKE IT GO AWAY MAKE IT GO AWAY MAKE IT GO AWAY MAKE IT GO AWAY." Link chanted fearfully, clutching the redhead's jacket in fear.

"Oh no, it returned. "Joey took a step back.

"Hoo! You might find the source of the music if you follow the sound!" the owl said.

"I think Kurama established that already." Aya said sarcastically.

"Who knows? You might come across the Sacred Forest Meadow!" Kaepora Gaebora hooted. "Just be careful! There are monsters in there!" With that, the owl randomly flew away.

"So, every time he appears, he's just going to say useless stuff and fly away with no real reason for ever talking to us in the first place?" Aya lifted an eyebrow.

"It would seem that way." Kurama shrugged and the party followed on, helping their green-clad leader follow the song through the woods. Eventually, the got to what looked like the beginning of a forest maze, but before they could go through, a horrible, monstrous scream caught them off guard and a wolf monster appeared.

"A Wolfos." Navi said. "They can be annoying, but you need to break its guard." The party responded to what the fairy instructed and began to fight the Wolfos. It wasn't proving to be too much of a challenge for the party, luckily, just very persistent. Kaori, from the back, shot off an arrow, hitting the monster in the shoulder. It yelped in pain and growled, staring angrily at the small girl with yellow eyes.

"Um…" Kaori took a step back but the Wolfos leapt over the rest of the group and jumped on the girl, throwing her to the ground. The two collided and Kaori squealed in fear and pain from the collision with the cold ground. _AHHHH!_ Kaori screamed mentally, placing her hands in front of her face to protect them. _I want this thing off of me!_ Kaori let out a scream of fear and suddenly the monster was off of her and had been blown back, bleeding from multiple wounds inflicted by a sudden, piercing wind. Kurama took this as his opportunity and, with Link's help, disposed of the creature, which soon dissipated in a blue mist.

"Well, I assume Kaori is wind." Navi said dryly, sitting on Link's shoulder.

"I…Did I just do something cool?" Kaori got up and looked over at Aya.

"The monster attacked you and you got scared. So, you apparently blew it away with a razor sharp wind of doom." Aya explained, checking over her friend to make sure she was fine.

"I can do something useful, now." Kaori seemed satisfied, though a bit confused at her sudden ability.

"Let's discuss this later and go find Saria. Time crunch, remember?" Navi said impatiently. The party nodded and navigated their way through the maze, disposing of annoying Deku Scrubs along the way. Finally, the found themselves in front of a large, eerie building, grey and covered in vines. Though, the building looked like it couldn't be entered by normal means. Sitting on a tree stump in front of the building was Saria, who had stopped her song upon seeing the party enter the meadow.

"Link!" Saria smiled. "Everyone! How is your journey so far?"

"Great!" Link went on to messily explain their situation to Saria, though his explanation was translated by Kurama to a more reasonable and less stupid sounding explanation that actually made sense.

"So, you'll be gone for a long time, won't you?" Saria looked down, her eyes sad. "But, I've got an idea. Pull out the ocarina I gave you. I'll teach you my song so that you'll always remember me!"

"Yay! Music!" Link whipped out the ocarina he was given and waited for Saria to begin. After a few notes, Link happily followed and the two continued on, filling the forest with the cheerful melody.

"Remember that song." Saria said. "With that, you'll remember me always. And you can contact me if necessary. A part of me is always in that song! Contact me if you ever need help, okay?"

"Of course!" Link seemed satisfied. "I like happy music!"

"Let's go now." Navi ordered. "I'd like to get to Kakariko before we have any repeats of last night. Besides, we need to get everything together and go the mountain."

"Sounds like a plan." Joey said.

The party said their farewells to Saria, who waved to them happily as the exited the meadow and back to the fields.

**A/n: **So, I decided that, when I was reading over this to get ideas, that the whole "Sprits" thing was very random and only happened to them when they were adults, which didn't make much sense, since in the MM sequel, the party is fully capable of using their respective elements. So, I decided that the three that couldn't use magic yet (Aya, Joey and Kaori) should start dabbling in their elements since Kurama and Katara are already good with theirs.

So, nothing story-changing, just trying to make everything smoother and trying to fill in some plot holes while I'm at it. But seriously, if they're really important, wouldn't signs of their powers show up in their childhood-journey, especially if Kurama and Katara are already pretty skilled with theirs?

Review!


	7. Melody in the Dark Tomb

**A/n:** The next revamped chapter is here. Yay!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Zelda. Whatever.

**Chapter 7: Melody in the Dark Tomb**

The sleepy village of Kakariko was awakened peacefully, aroused from sleep by the loud call of a nearby cucco. The morning sun slowly prodded at the villagers, luring them out of their houses, resuming their daily life-peaceful yet mundane. Without much complaint, the simple villagers began their menial chores.

"I want sour cream on that…" Joey said in his sleep, bent up in a pretzel position on his bed. The party had made it to the village by nightfall, and by pooling together the money that had been dropped by monsters along the way, they were able to get two inn rooms. Granted, the nice innkeeper had given them a "children's" discount, but it worked out nonetheless.

"Okay, time to wake up them up." Navi said lazily, sitting up from her place on the nightstand. She turned to Kurama, who was already awake and ready. The fairy, still dim from sleeping, flew over to her bonded companion and began prodding him awake.

"But…the sea cows…they said…marry me…" Link turned his head, lightly drooling.

"Okay, you're weird." Navi sighed loudly before screaming in Link's ear, causing the boy to shoot up and reach for his sword out of pure instinct. He froze upon connecting with reality, staring at his fairy companion with wide, blue eyes.

"The aliens don't want my wife?" Link asked, his eyes still wide, as if he were asking a totally normal question.

"No. Link." Navi responded dryly. "Just get ready."

"Okay!" Link jumped off the bed, cheerfully assembling himself for the day. Kurama had already brought Joey back to the world of the living, and the tall blond was rubbing sleep from his amber eyes. After a few minutes, the guys left the inn and met the girls outside.

"Okay. You all are going to use your remaining money to get something to eat at the village pub-restaurant thing." Navi ordered, sitting upon Link's head. "It's worth it to waste your money on it. It'll be the only decent meal you guys will get for the duration of….well…forever."

"So…Are you our boss or something?" Joey turned to the fairy. "It seems like you order us around a lot."

"What, you want Link to order you guys around?" Navi asked. "The kid can barely spell his own name let alone order you guys around on a journey to save the world."

"Good point." Aya said. "Let's go eat. I don't really care who bosses us around. If Navi doesn't do it, we probably wouldn't get much accomplished."

"I agree with that." Katara said. With that, the party entered the restaurant and sat down at a table. A nice older lady came to take their orders, and the party had to order for Link, who was mesmerized by the salt shaker, which he claimed looked like the alien overlord from his dream. A little while later, the lady came back with the food.

"That was really good!" Link threw his hands up in satisfaction. "I'm full! I could dance!" Link started dancing in his seat, singing a rather odd and mismatched song about cuccos and dancing.

"I'll go pay." Kurama stood up with the money, earning a nod from everyone else. Aya volunteered to go with him.

"Did you all enjoy your meal?" the lady asked kindly, accepting the money. "You all are travelers, right?"

"Yes, the meal was great." Kurama nodded his head. "And, yes, we're travelers."

"I'm not used to seeing children travel together." the lady giggled. "The village is already taking a liking to you all. You all are so adorable!"

"Adorable?" Aya questioned, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes. You are all very endearing." the lady laughed again. "I can see you all becoming very close in the future."

"Hmm…" Kurama nodded, placing his hands in his pockets, like usual. "I think I can see that, as well."

"Maybe in more ways than one." the lady winked. "Who knows what can happen?" She giggled a bit, looking between the redhead and the small brunette, smiling at the way the girl looked off to the side, clearly hiding whatever embarrassment that came with the implication.

"Hm. Right." Kurama nodded in goodbye to the lady and the walked back over to their friends. Navi saw that they were ready to leave and bonked Link on the head, stopping him mid-dance.

"But…that was my Happy Dancing Cucco Song." Link's eyes were big and puppy-like.

"Congratulations." Navi sat on his head, clearly sarcastic. The party left and stood outside the restaurant for only a brief moment before Link decided their next course of action.

"I want to explore the village place!" Link seemed excited. Throwing a finger forward, the boy pointed and walked off in a random direction. The party all shrugged, following their so-called leader, deciding a little exploration never hurt anyone. Most of the village was pretty typical of a stereotypical mountain village-peaceful, serene, good scenery and friendly people. There wasn't too much out of the ordinary or exciting. Almost giving up hope of finding something unique, Link stopped, seeing a small sub-entrance. The party walked past, down a path, and found themselves in what was clearly a graveyard.

"A grave yard?" Katara looked around. It was a sad, mournful place, silent except for the ongoing call of cicadas hidden in the bushes. The place was lined with tall wooden fences, sturdy to keep out intruders and the place seemed oddly cloudy and muggy. Tall, uncut grass was everywhere and a there was a rundown shack with various tools in the corner. Among the sea of white tombstones was a huge, grey stone slab, in the very front.

"Here lies the souls of those who swore fealty to the Royal Family of Hyrule." Navi began to read aloud. "May the Sheikah, Guardians of the Royal Family and Founders of Kakariko Village, watch over these souls as they rest."

"That's sad." Link frowned.

"I expect no less from a graveyard." Kurama said as they walked the paths of gravestones, noticing how old some of them looked. "But there is something peaceful about this place."

"Peaceful isn't a word I normally use to describe cemeteries." Joey turned the redhead.

"Yes, perhaps." Kurama shrugged. They continued on, coming to a gated off area that signified the division between the royal burial grounds and the regular one. Curious, the party hopped the gate. There were several dozen graves surrounding the bigger, fancier tombstones, and these particular stones were blank.

"These stones are blank." Katara mused, bending down and running a finger along the blank stone.

"Victims of the war." Navi said matter-of-factly.

"War?" the blue-eyed girl blinked.

"There was a war some time ago." Navi explained. "It was pretty nasty. It was so violent that there were dozens of soldiers' corpses left completely unidentifiable after it was all said and done. To compensate, out of guilt, the Royal Family buried those unnamed soldiers in the Royal burial grounds."

"Hey!" Link waved the group over. "These stones have writing on them." There were two very fancy graves on either side of a very large stone slab.

"Sharp the Elder and Flat the Younger." Navi read. "Two of the Royal Family's most famous court composers. They were called the 'Composer Brothers'. Legend has it that they died after they had finished their last song, but no one knows what it is."

"Huh?" Joey turned.

"The Composer Brothers composed many songs for the Royal Family." Navi continued to explain. "But no one knows what their last song is. It was arranged by the brothers to be buried, unheard and unseen with them. The legend says that the song they wrote has magical properties. This stone slab marks where their underground tomb was. They were very wealthy, as you can see."

"I wonder what the song is." Link's eyes were wide in mischief. "I want to go into their tomb and find the song!"

"Exploring a dead person's tomb wasn't on my agenda today." Aya said.

"But the song! I want to find their song!" Link cheered. "They can't keep it hidden, right?"

"I guess so." Joey turned. "I'm all up for a little exploration. How do we get in?"

"The insignia of the Triforce is over here on the ground." Kurama pointed, clearly indifferent to whatever the party was doing. "I wonder if that song Impa taught us could do anything. She did make it seem like it was helpful somehow."

"Link, get over to that spot and play that lullaby that she taught us." Navi ordered.

"But why would I want to put us to sleep?" Link asked.

"Just play it!" the fairy seemed frustrated. The boy did as he was told and played the soft melody. After a long second of silence, tremors shook the earth beneath the party, before the clouds above the tomb got dark. A giant strike of purple lightning suddenly pierced the black clouds, striking the stone slab. The stone exploded, causing the group to get knocked back violently. Then, the skies cleared, leaving behind a hole to an underground cavern behind.

"Ow…." Joey rubbed his eyes, sitting up. He poked Katara, who had landed next to him, and the water-wielding girl stirred back to consciousness. Soon, the rest of the party stirred awake, none the worse for the wear.

"Okay, let's never do that again." Navi flew clumsily over to Link's head.

"That hurt." Kaori frowned.

"Purple!" Link cheered. "Purple lightning is purple!"

"Link, shut up." the fairy grumpily ordered.

"Yeah. I was not expecting that to happen." Katara brushed herself off. "I vote we never do that again." The party decided they had nothing to lose and jumped in the hole one by one. Once down, they were greeted to a rather morbid sight. Piles of bloody skeletons were lying on the floor carelessly. Flying around, as if guarding their prizes, were bat-like monsters.

"Ahh!" Kaori shrieked, jumping behind the closest person, Link, in fear.

"Okay, I'm going to have nightmares about this later." Joey blinked a few times. The bat creatures began to fly towards them angrily, giving them no chance to take in their surroundings.

"Let's see if I can do this without being pissed off." Joey focused all his energy into his hand, concentrating as hard as physically possible for Joey, and managed to conjure a fireball. He threw said fireball, incinerating one of bats. Kurama had effortlessly destroyed one himself, Katara was slicing one up with her water whip, Link was showing off his uncanny sword skills, Aya was destroying one while Kaori shot off arrows at random.

"Okay, were those things the ones who destroyed these people?" Joey asked. "Or did these guys come with the tomb?"

"They might have. Who could have gotten past that stone slab?" Katara tapped her chin.

"It could be possible that the bats are indeed the ones who destroyed these guys. Or they simply got stuck." Kurama shrugged. "The stone slab was probably a just a later addition to get rid of grave robbers. I assume that's what these skeletons are."

"Yep." Navi said. "The Composer Brothers had no family but themselves. Besides, if they did I highly doubt they'd simply throw their corpses in piles like this."

"This is scary." Kaori still frowned, hiding behind Link again.

"I'm not too freaked out anymore." Aya said. "I handle skeletons better than actual corpses."

"There's a door over there." Kurama pointed, walking over to it casually, as if weren't in a tomb full of decaying skeletons. "I'm on the wild assumption this leads farther in." The party nodded and went farther in, walking past a dark tunnel. Once on the other side, they found themselves in a room alit with green light.

"Green!" Link cheered.

"Yeah." Navi said. "Green because of the giant pools of acid."

"Acid?" Joey jumped back.

"Yeah. There are pools of acid." Navi gestured. "Acid that'll melt your skin off."

"W-what….are those things?" Katara was frozen in fear, staring with wide eyes at something. The rest of the party followed her line of sight, only to find themselves staring at a tall, horrific looking creature. It was zombie-like, with rotting skin that was a burnt, brown color, and its face almost seemed wooden, like a mask. It walked slowly, letting out inhuman, hideous moans.

"ReDeads." Navi said, unfazed. "They're like reanimated corpses, basically. Don't let them jump on you and suck your brains out. They'll do that."

"They do what?" Kaori squealed.

"Just be careful." Navi sighed. The party began to creep slowly around the monster, but they couldn't avoid the ReDead's hollow gaze as it stared at them. They ran further, until Aya yelped, feeling one of the monster cold hands on her wrist.

"Ahh!" Kaori screamed again. "Aya!"

"Ah…" Aya couldn't really muster the strength to vocalize her fear. She just felt the long creature slowly try to wrap itself around her body. Fear overtook the girl, frozen in place by the ReDead's stare.

"Aya, do something!" Joey called out. Kurama stood next to Joey, but while worry was as evident on his face as everyone else's, he was waiting for something.

_Now would be great time do something awesome like everyone else._ Aya scolded herself. _I __**hate**__having this thing on me…Get off of me now, you piece of crap!_ Aya felt herself get warm, summoning all the anger she could muster, and felt something explode from out her. The ReDead went flying into another ReDead, knocking both into the pool of acid. The ReDead that had flown off of Aya was already dissipating, and the other just moaned until the acid killed it.

"What the…" Aya stared at her palm, glowing with light.

"Light." Kurama smiled, satisfied, walking over to Aya. "It appears your 'element' is light."

"Light? Me?" Aya blinked up at the redhead, since she had collapsed to her knees. "I don't really fit that definition."

"I don't entirely think so." Kurama shrugged, offering his hand to help her up. "But at least we know now that light works effectively against ReDeads."

"Creatures of the shadows hate light." Navi shrugged. "Let's talk more about this later. This place gives me the creeps."

"I'm with the fairy for once." Joey shivered. "I don't want that ReDead-thing to crawl on me like it did Aya."

"Don't even talk like that." Aya twitched. "You didn't actually have the thing _on you_. It was like, molesting me or something."

"What's molesting?" Link looked up at Navi.

"A story for another time, little boy." Navi said sarcastically. The group made their way further in, finally reaching what they hoped was the last room of the horrible tomb. The room they found was dimly light with almost silver and blue light, but quiet. The wall was a stone, with some things etched into it. The caskets of the Composer Brothers, they assumed, were encased within the stone.

"I never want to be this close to someone's grave ever again." Katara shuddered.

"It isn't as if we shouldn't have expected this." Kurama remarked. "I mean, we did agree to explore the tomb willingly."

"I know we didn't have to." Katara sighed.

"It builds character." Navi quipped before flying over to the wall and reading what was etched onto it.

"What does it say?" Kaori asked.

"This is dedicated to the dearly departed members of Hyrule's Royal Family, and the loyal servants who gave their life for them. May this song honor their weary souls as they sleep with the sun and the moon in the skies above." Navi read aloud.

"That's very pretty." Katara smiled.

"There's a song etched in here, too." the fairy continued. "The music to it is written right here. It says above it 'The Sun's Song' and below there's another message."

"Damn, these brothers really planned this out, didn't they?" Aya crossed her arms. "They have the song right here. Clearly, they wanted someone to traverse past brain-sucking zombies, bats and pools of acid to find this special song of theirs."

"The message below the song says: To the brave soul, who passed our trials, please play our song and spread its light throughout this regal world. May the power of the skies be at your command, courageous one." Navi read. "Congratulations, Link. We found your song."

"We did it!" Link cheered, pleased at this obvious victory. "I can read this, too. I kind of remember when Saria taught me how." Link pulled out his ocarina and began playing the notes of the song, slowly at first, before they all melted together in a triumphant melody, a proud song of victory.

"Something feels different, now." Navi said.

"Did the song summon the cows to eat my wife?" Link looked up at Navi.

"No. You have no wife." Navi sighed. "Just go outside! Jeez!" The party didn't even bother questioning the whole wife thing, and left the tomb, quickly. Once outside, they noticed the sky was no longer a light blue. Instead, it was the dark indigo color of night.

"Did that song change it nighttime?" Joey turned.

"Only one way to find out." Kurama mused. "Link, play that song again."

"Okay!" Link played the song again and, in a flash, the sky was light again, the sun rising, signaling morning.

"Okay. That's freaky." Joey shivered.

"So, we just found a song that controls time?" Navi asked hesitantly before shrugging. "Okay, let's minimize our usage of that song, then. I really don't feel like screwing up the flow of time. That would break the point of saving the world."

"Agreed." The party all nodded in unison, except for Link, who was busy rambling endlessly about the aliens abducting his wife to take her brains and make bean casserole.

"We should, you know, do what the princess wanted us to do now." Navi rolled her eyes. "She didn't, more or less, hire us to explore ancient tombs and find magical songs."

"Is that Death Mountain?" Joey looked up at the mountain in the distance.

"Didn't we establish that a long time ago?" Aya turned to the blond.

"It's the only mountain around." Kurama placed his hands in his pocket, still unfazed by the whole tomb-dead body-acid debacle.

"Joey, quit asking stupid questions!" Katara scolded.

"I was just asking…" Joey whimpered in defeat.

"Yeah, don't ask stupid questions. That's Link's job." Navi stated, as if this were a fact.

"Link did what?" Link looked over, eyes wide, stopping mid-ramble.

"Shut up and get over here, Link." Navi said. The boy happily obliged, and the fairy sat down on Link's head. "Now mush, faithful steed. We have a mountain to climb."

"To the pretty thing in the distance!" Link pointed his finger forward, clearly having now idea where he was going.

"The other way." Navi whispered.

"Oh. To the pretty thing in the distance!" Link repeated, for effect, and the party went on, following their dimwitted leader to the mountain.

**A/n**: Don't you all love Link's stupidity and Kurama's indifferent response to broken corpses and zombies?

Review!


	8. Up the Mountain

**A/n: **Here's the next revised chapter!

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Zelda.

**Chapter 8: Up the Mountain**

"I'm sorry. I'm following orders." the baffled and somewhat annoyed guard rubbed the bridge of his nose, scanning his eyes over the party of mismatched kids from under his helmet. He tapped his spear against the ground a couple of times in irritation, twirling it idly in his hands. "I can't let you through without proper permission."

"But…but…" Link's blue eyes were big and puppy-like, clearly confused by why the guard didn't simply let them gallivant to a dangerous mountain.

"Proper permission?" Kurama lifted an eyebrow before digging in his bag and pulling out a piece of cream-colored parchment: the letter Princess Zelda gave them. "Would this suffice?"

"Kurama, here to save the day." Aya said sarcastically, shrugging her shoulders in satisfaction.

"Oh, well…This is surely the Princess's handwriting." the guard seemed taken aback as he read over the paper. "Wait…Ha! That princess surely has a way with words." Amusement was as thick in his voice as molasses.

"Huh?" Link cocked his head, still clearly confused.

"Let me read, and I quote, 'These six individuals are under my direct order to save Hyrule."

"Wow, how believable." Katara slapped herself.

"Well, this is her handwriting. It's unmistakable." The guard laughed heartily. "No matter how ridiculous this sounds, I have to let you through since you have permission from the Royal Family."

"Thank you." Kurama sighed loudly, taking the letter back from the guard and calmly placing it back in his bag.

"Have fun, little heroes." the smirk was quite obvious on the guard's face. The party nodded in acknowledgment for walking past the gate the guard opened for them. The peacefulness was left behind in the village with every step they took on the red, warm ground of the mountain path.

"So, this is Death Mountain?" Joey looked around the landscape. It was certainly grander to see when you were actually on the terrain, that's for sure. It was quite warm in area since the hot sun shone down relentlessly on the perfectly carved, burnt red mountain. The mountain path curved and swerved through the mountain, and despite the heat, there was something beautiful, if not very exciting, about it.

"It doesn't seem that dangerous to me." Joey placed his hand behind his head casually as the party walked, kicking a red pebble.

"I'm sure there's a reason it's called 'Death Mountain'." Kurama said off-handedly, his hands in his pockets, uncomplaining about the heat in his green jacket.

"There is." Navi was blunt.

"Is it full of butterscotch candies and raw cucco meat? And do the Red Hopper Monkeys make cream pie?" Link asked.

"What?" Aya turned, lifting an eyebrow. Kaori just blinked her stormy eyes in confusion before shaking her head and giggling a bit.

"Link, I don't want to know where you pulled that out from." Navi responded.

"What do you mean?" Link's eyes were big with their usual confusion.

"Link, shut up." the fairy plopped herself down on her companion's head. Link willfully complied, saying something about how cream pie tastes like cinnamon and berries. Everyone just decided to ignore this random outburst and continue their somewhat unexciting trek through up the mountain path.

"So…Why is this place called Death Mountain?" Kaori turned to Navi.

"It's an active volcano." Navi said, and the answer she provided was pretty self-explanatory, though she continued. "Well, mostly active, really. It's been a good hundred years since its erupted or shown signs of erupting. But, besides that, there are monsters here and there."

"I also assume that the time it did erupt must have been massive for the people to name it 'Death Mountain'." Kurama mused.

"Yep. Pretty much." the fairy seemed indifferent. "No one wants to explore an active volcano."

"Yet, we do." Katara shrugged. "Not surprising, really."

"So, who are we seeing here in the mountain, anyway?" Kaori piped.

"Probably the Gorons." Navi explained. "They're a race of rock-eating people here on the mountain. They're aligned with the Royal Family and I think Impa was right when she said they have the spiritual stone of fire."

"Well, it would fit." Kurama nodded. As they walked, it was silent, until Joey let out a yelping sound. He had jumped back, his amber eyes wide, and in front of him was a red-nasty looking spider monster.

"What the hell is that thing?" the blond exclaimed, pulling his sword out. He stabbed it rather quickly, still shocked, but the spider died rather quickly, dissolving away into mist.

"That was a Red Textite." Navi explained. "They're harmless, really. And really easy to get rid of, as you can see."

"Well, scared the crap out of me." Joey huffed, crossing his arms as the party continued onward. They successfully disposed of several more annoying Textites along the way. As they continued, they passed what looked like a cave blocked by a boulder, and several other minor pieces of scenery, including a path that looked like it led straight to the entrance of the volcano itself. After awhile, the journey grew silent and boring as the scenery, as with all treks, became mundane and boring.

"I wonder if that friendly rock up there wants to be our friend." Link said in his usual ditzy tone. "It's coming towards us. It wants to be friends!" Before the party could contemplate this stupid statement, what looked like a bouncing, rolling rock came barreling towards them. Snatching up their dimwitted leader, Kurama skidded off to the side, along with everyone else, pressing themselves against the rock wall. They barely missed getting taken out by the rogue boulder.

"The boulder is coming…alive." Joey froze in his statement, as if he were confused by it as well. Joey just pointed a finger, a little shocked, and saw that the "boulder" had unfolded itself in to a creature- a rock-like person to be exact. Making a moaning noise, the person looked around his surroundings before folding itself back up.

"That's a Goron, everyone." Navi said, sitting back on Link's head since the party had escaped death by rogue Goron.

"Well, it could have watched where it was rolling." Katara seemed annoyed, brushing herself off as the group headed forwards.

"They aren't the smartest people in the world." Navi shrugged. As they went about their journey, Link continued to ramble something about sun gods and peppers. Ignoring his rant, they finally found themselves in front of a huge entrance. They stepped past the tunnel to see a huge city built within the mountain- layer upon layer of city full of Gorons.

"Well…This is big." Joey blinked a few times, looking around. "I feel out of place."

"We're the only humans here." Kaori pointed out, looking around the massive city.

"Like I said, the Gorons don't get visitors very often." Navi explained. "They're not bad, though. They're too lazy to do anything to you. The only threatening Goron is probably the head Goron, whatever they call him."

"I wish I could eat rocks." Link said happily. "It would be cool. I wonder if they taste like vegetables?"

"Link, shut up." the fairy ordered and the boy sullenly complied, a look of defeat in his blue eyes.

"If we're looking for the spiritual stone, wouldn't the 'Head' Goron have it?" Kurama said. "It would make most sense."

"Yeah, but how do we go see him?" Aya turned. "It isn't as if a bunch of kids would be allowed to see the chief of their people without a good reason."

"Impa probably taught us that lullaby for a reason." Navi said.

"Yes. If that lullaby was able to open up that tomb, then it should get us in to see the chief." Kurama agreed. "I assume it's some sort of sign of the Royal Family."

"Whatever." Navi said, nudging Link to get him walking like he was some sort of horse. "Come one, mighty steed, let's get going."

"Yay!" Link randomly started walking down the levels, the rest of the party following him along. After a few minutes, they made it down to the bottom level without even an odd stare from the Gorons. They all didn't seem to care about the random children walking the streets of their city.

"I'm guessing that the big door is where the chief is." Katara pointed nonchalantly over to a large, decorated door with a furry rug in front of it.

"The rug is soft and squishy! Like grass!" the green-clad boy exclaimed.

"Grass isn't the comparison I had in mind." Aya bent down to touch the soft rug. On Navi's command, Link pulled out the ocarina. He almost started to play the song Malon taught them before Navi bonked him the on they head and played the lullaby. After the soft melody finished, the door opened, making a loud creaking sound as it did so. Hesitantly, they walked down a small hall and into a moderately sized throne room of sorts. It was a brown-red color, the same as the rest of the city, but it was elaborately decorated with black paint in various designs all over the walls. Statues and torches sat in all the corners of the room and there was a table off to the side that held a couple of bowls and vases. There were a couple of tables with drawers off to the side as well.

"Holy…crap…" Joey trailed off, staring in shock. Following his line of sight, the party was quite taken aback by the huge size of the chief of the Gorons, who stood in the back of the room in front of a huge totem-like statue. He stared at the party with marble-like brown eyes, his muscular arms crossed. He was huge, doubling the rest of the party in size, and he tapped his foot in annoyance, an eyebrow raised at the group of scrawny kids standing before him.

"A bunch of children?" the chief said, his voice rising with each word. "Are you the messengers of the Royal Family?"

"Yes, we are." Kurama had quickly gathered his bearings and answered the clearly angry chief before Link had a chance to say something stupid. Answering the annoyed whispers of Navi, Kaori swiftly slapped her hand over Link's mouth, the poor boy making muffled whines.

"What?" the chief clenched his fists. "Have I sunk so low in my sworn brother, the King's, favor that he sends nothing but a group of kids to answer my pleas?"

"Pleas?" Katara inquired, cocking her head in confusion.

"What business is it of you children?" the chief glowered at the blue-clad girl, who stepped back, her voice merely a squeak in response. Joey raised his fist, ready to respond to the chief's rude response when Kurama calmly elbowed him.

"Yelling at the chief and calling him a slew of rude names isn't going to win us any favors, Joey." Kurama whispered.

"Okay…" Joey looked off to the side.

"We have to make him happy!" Link barely squeaked out, finally prying himself out of the grip of Kaori, his voice high with cheerfulness.

"How? The guy looks like he could crush us just by thinking about it." Aya turned, whispering.

"I could sing my Happy Dancing Cucco Song!" Link threw his arms in the air, clearly thrilled at what he thought was his competent contribution to the conversation.

"No." Navi looked down, her aura flickering in annoyance. "I heard Gorons like music, though. Why we try playing something on the ocarina? What's the worst that could happen?"

"He crushes us with his mind." Aya looked off to the side, crossing her arms.

"Exactly." the fairy responded. "If we're aiming for happy, then the only happy song Link knows is Saria's Song. Link, play the song."

"Play checkers?" Link looked up. "That's the game with the colorful circles that go whoosh and bang, right?"

"No, play the ocarina, you dope." Navi twitched. "Saria's Song." Link complied, pulling out the instrument again. This time, he actually played the correct song first. The happy tune sounded throughout the dull throne room, its cheerful notes ringing one right after the other in a seemingly never ending beat. The party took a step back, just in case, and watched to see what would happen as Link played the song. At first, the chief looked annoyed that Link was trying to do anything to please him, but then, his foot began straying from his continuous annoyed tapping and began following the tempo of the song. Soon, he was rocking back and forth before finally losing it, breaking out into a graceless dance, flailing his arms wildly and spinning around.

"Well…That's the reaction I was expecting." Navi was as dumbfounded as everyone else was as they watched the once angry chief dance as if there was not a care in the world.

"I was honestly expecting the reaction to this to involved crushing, blood and sadness." Aya said, rubbing her forehead.

"Uh-huh…" Kaori seemed more scared of the dancing than she was of the chief's rude declarations. After a few minutes, Link stopped the song, a goofy but positively satisfied look on his face. The chief came to stop in his dancing, turning around with a large, almost equally goofy grin on his face.

"Is he bipolar?" Aya turned. "A few minutes ago he looked like he wanted to kill us and now he looks as happy as Link is."

"Thank you, children." the chief nodded, letting out a laugh. "Please forgive me. I'm truly sorry. It is just that so much has been going wrong lately that I guess I forgot what it meant to be polite to our guests."

"It's fine." Katara answered.

"No, I was quite rude to you all." he responded, shaking his head. "My name is Darunia. I am the Big Brother, or the chief, of the Goron people. Please excuse my previous behavior. It wasn't a fitting representation of our people."

"I didn't think it was." Aya looked off to the side. "The rest of your people look pretty mellow." With that, the party quickly introduced themselves.

"Yes, we are usually mellow." Darunia nodded. "But my people have lost their energy. You see, we are facing a severe food shortage."

"A food shortage?" Link blinked, but was stopped by Navi before he could ask something ridiculous.

"Yes. That is why I sent out for my sworn brother, the King's help." Darunia looked down. "When you all were coming up the mountain, did you see a cave blocked by a giant boulder?"

"Yeah. What was that?" Katara asked.

"That is Dodongo's Cavern. That is where we get the source of our food." Darunia sighed.

"If you guys eat rocks, then why is there a food storage?" Joey placed his hands behind his head casually. "I thought mountains were made of those."

"Dodongo's Cavern provides the hottest and the best rocks for us to eat." Darunia sighed again. "Unfortunately, the Gorons have become gourmets and our bodies have grown to reject most kinds of rocks as a result."

"What happened to the cavern to make it blocked?" Kurama asked.

"That wretched man from the desert cursed us." Darunia seethed as he spoke of Ganondorf. "He came here seeking the spiritual stone of fire, the Goron's Ruby and our sacred treasure and I refused to give it to him. As a result, he infested our cavern with horrible monsters before sealing it off. Even if we did break the boulder, we'd be stuck with monsters. My people can't fight those monsters."

"That's sad." Link frowned.

"But enough of my rambling." Darunia waved a hand. "What did you all come here for?"

"The thing!" Link waved his hands frantically. "We came for the thing!"

"The…thing?" Darunia lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah! The thing!" Link pointed frantically, as if what he was saying should be obvious. "It's the thing with the thingy and the shiny whoosh!"

"We came seeking the Goron's Ruby." Kurama translated as Navi bonked Link on the head, who whimpered in defeat.

"You came for the ruby?" Darunia tapped his chin. "If you all know the lullaby then you must be seeking them on official orders. The princess?"

"Yeah, we're here because of the princess." Katara nodded her head.

"I won't let you all have it that easily." Darunia had a gleam of mischievousness in his eyes. "How about I make you a deal? If you all can get rid of the monsters in Dodongo's Cavern, then I give you the ruby. That way, you get what you want and I get what I want. Consider it a test of strength. Prove yourselves to me."

"What about it?" Navi flew around the group. "Sound like a plan to everyone? We need to get those stones."

"Does it involve red cows and flying forks with wings?" Link asked. "Can the flying forks have lasers that pierce through people's skulls and melt their brains and turn them into the cow slaves? Do the cows want my wife?"

"Link, you have no wife and I'm an inch away from removing your right to speak." Navi twitched.

"No, Link." Kurama sighed. "No one wants your wife and this doesn't involve anything bad."

"Okay!" Link seemed satisfied.

"It's a deal then." Darunia smiled before leaving his place in the throne room and messing around in the drawer of one of the tables. He pulled out six bracelets. "Here, you'll need them." The party took the bracelets from Darunia's large hand, placing the strange items on their wrists.

"What are these things?" Aya inquired, arranging the bracelets already on her wrists to fit the new one on.

"Goron Bracelets." Darunia said proudly. "Snazzy little devices, really. There are flowers here that grow bombs, called Bomb Flowers, scattered all over the place, but they're so heavy that normally only a Goron can lift them. But we made these magic bracelets, and with them, even little kids like you can lift them!"

"Pretty…" Link seemed pleased.

"I'll leave this to you kids, then." Darunia laughed heartily. "Good luck." The party nodded acknowledgment to the Goron chief and left the city altogether. It was almost the end of the day, and the temperature had lowered and the heat had been replaced by a cool, twilight breeze.

"We can't get in the place without getting rid of that boulder." Joey pointed out.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Katara rolled her blue eyes, a playful smirk on her lips.

"I don't think I asked for commentary." Joey's eye twitched.

"I don't need to be asked in order to offer my opinion." Katara looked off to the side.

"Yeah, all I here from you is useless yapping!" Joey clenched his fists.

"I'm not the one yapping because I'm not the one pointing out the obvious!"

"At least I'm not getting touchy and evil."

"If you want touchy and evil, I'll give you touchy and evil!"

"Do you want to try?"

"Would you like to be an ice sculpture?"

"Anyways." Kurama intervened smoothly, turning the part of the group that wasn't arguing. There's a cliff over here with Bomb Flowers. It's right above the cavern."

"Yep. Drop the bomb and watch the boulder go boom." Navi said dryly.

"Boom? Does that involve dancing?" Link asked.

"Link, shut up." the fairy ordered and the boy responded with a sad whimper. Once Joey and Katara stopped arguing, they walked over and used their newfound bracelets to pick up a bomb and throw it over the edge. With that, the boulder exploded, revealing the entrance to the cavern. The party quietly made their way down the cavern, but by the time they made it, the twilight-colored was being blanketed with the indigo of nighttime. They walked into the cavern and found a slew of bomb flowers and a door sealed by rock.

"Let's just rest here in this room tonight." Navi said. "You all have been at it all day. Let's eat some provisions you have and go to sleep. We'll blow up the wall and get rid of the monsters tomorrow."

"That sounds like an awesome plan." Joey plopped himself down on the floor, relieved by the coolness of the stone amongst the heat of the cavern. They all sat in a circle and began to some things they had bought in the village before leaving that they could carry without worry of it spoiling.

"For cheap stuff, this food is pretty good." Aya said, taking a bite of her food.

"I agree." Kurama nodded.'

"I'm not picky about my food." Joey said, some crumbs fall to his lap, which he picked up and ate.

"You eat like a pig." Katara quirked an eyebrow, taking small, lady-like bites of her food.

"I'm savoring every bite." Joey waved his hand nonchalantly as more crumbs fell. "This is how real men eat."

"Oh, so I should start eating like that too!" Link began to mimic Joey's movements. "If I eat like that, I'll become stronger!"

"Now, you're talking there, buddy." Joey seemed satisfied.

"Thanks for giving him yet another unbreakable, stupid habit." Navi said, moving over to Kurama's shoulder to sit down, since it wasn't messy like her bonded companion.

"It doesn't seem hard to give Link new ideas." Aya shook her head.

"It does seem like he enjoys making people happy." Kaori chimed.

"Yes. He is enthusiasm is contagious." Kurama laughed. "He has enough spirit to make anyone happy."

"Yeah. Being genuinely mean to Link is like kicking puppies." Aya nodded.

"I guess I'll agree with that." Navi said. "Then again, you all are good kids, I suppose. I mean, you all are weird, no doubt about that. But you all are at least good."

"You must be very old, Navi." Katara mused, turning to the blue fairy. "I mean, you talk to us like a wise, old woman instead of a fairy guide."

"I am a wise, old woman, in retrospect." Navi seemed amused. "I'm a wise, crabby old woman by your age standards. I'm relatively young by fairy age standards. Fairies can live forever."

"I feel good!" Link fell backwards onto the floor, sprawled out. One of his hands rubbed his tummy, signaling that he was full. Joey did the same thing, and the pair had dopey, satisfied grins on their faces.

"Our cue to go to sleep I think." Kurama cleaned everything up, sighing as the two blonds drifted off into dreamland, despite the sleeping arrangements.

"Well, I guess I'll take a slice of their enthusiasm and try to fall asleep on these floors." Aya made herself as cozy as possible.

"Good night, you all." Navi said, as she made herself comfortable on Link's bag. With that, the rest of the worn-out kids fell asleep.

**A/n: **Hey there, all. Just revamping another chapter. Not much to say here.

Please review!


	9. Dodongo's Cavern

**A/n: **Chapter 9 is revised. Hooray!

**Disclaimer: **Nothing.

**Chapter 9: Dodongo's Cavern**

"Mmmm…Thank you wifey…The….puffs….are…Fish…" Link's incoherent babbling had stirred some of the party from their sleep. Their green-clad leader was sprawled out on the stone floor, a small trail of drool escaping the corner of his mouth as he mumbled random things in his dreams.

"Cheese?" Joey sat up, turning around to the rest of the party, still dazed. In all honesty, Dodongo's Cavern was very far in, so much so that it was hard to tell what time of day it was. Falling asleep seemed like a blur, so no one knew whether it had been all night or only minutes since they had entered their slumber.

"Good morning, everyone." Kurama said, walking back up the still-dazed party. The redhead and Navi had left the cave temporarily to see the time of day. "It's morning. Navi and I checked. It's sunrise."

"Oh, great." Aya sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Morning means going through this place, doesn't it?"

"Yay." Katara said unenthusiastically. Navi went over and woke her partner up, who stared at the party with clouded, blue eyes.

"Huh?" Link cocked his head.

"Just eat, Link." Kurama said, pulling out some food from their bag. The party ate their makeshift breakfast. Link hopped up, now running on full energy, the glint of satisfaction in his eyes.

"We get to blow stuff up, don't we?" Link whirled around to face the group clumsily, waving his arms a few times before regaining his balance.

"He seems too excited about that." Katara sighed a little, crossing her arms and putting her weight on one foot. Joey's amber eyes grew a mischievous and enthusiastic gleam and he ran over to a Bomb Flower.

"Okay, time blow crap up!" Joey threw the bomb like one would throw a ball, and it slammed against the wall, blowing open the entrance in a matter of seconds. The rest of the party stood there with wide eyes.

"A heads-up warning would have been nice, you moron!" Katara seethed, her fists clenched at her sides.

"What, I was grabbing one, y'all should have moved!" Joey responded back defiantly.

"Yeah, you grabbed one and gave us six seconds to react before you threw that thing!"

"Oh, quit whining."

"You're going to be whining here in a second, you insufferable moron!"

"Wanna try?"

"I don't need to try!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean you're too much of a careless idiot to know what I'll do to you!"

"Oh, it's on now."

"What a lovely way to start my morning." Aya rolled her eyes, turning her attention away from the arguing pair and over to the hot, muggy, lava-ridden lair before them.

"Indeed." Kurama was casual about the whole thing.

"Look, red water!" Link pointed to the lava. "It's pretty!"

"I'm not even going to bother." Navi sighed loudly, plopping herself down on Link's head. "Hey, love-birds, quit squabbling and let's go!"

"Not lovebirds!" Both of them turned at the same time, eye's twitching in annoyance.

"It was sarcasm." Navi said bluntly. "Don't be so sensitive. Come on!"

"Does sensitive have to do with termites?" Link looked up at the blue fairy, his eyes gleaming as if what he'd just asked were a normal question.

"No. Now move." Navi said in response, though Link seemed to take this as a good enough answer and waltzed past the blown-up door, without a care in the world.

"Let's follow him before he falls in the lava and kills himself." Aya said dryly. The party followed their dimwitted leader into the scolding hot dungeon. It was pretty much what the party expected of a cavern located near a semi-active volcano. There was black, volcanic rock everywhere, presumably the rocks the Gorons ate, and monsters littered the corners and platforms of the cavern.

"It's so hot." Katara looked around, wiping some sweat off of her forehead. "I could shrivel up and die in here."

"Weird. I don't really think it's that hot in here." Joey said, lifting an eyebrow as he inspected their surroundings. His statement matched his condition, though. There was not a drop on sweat on Joey's body and he looked very comfortable in their current situation.

"You look like this place is as comfortable as spring, Joey." Aya commented, crossing her arms. "Dammit, I'm so sweaty my arms are sticking together."

"Let us get this over with, then." Kurama said. While it was clear Kurama was warm, himself, he looked less than fazed by it. "If we get this done quickly, then we don't have to spend as much time in here." The party agreed to that statement, and dragging Link along, the party started off into the dungeon. They hopped a moving platform over a pool of lava, to a central pillar in the middle. When they jumped on the central pillar, a statue with an eye shot a blue laser beam at them.

"What the hell?" Joey jumped back, narrowly avoiding said laser beam. Kurama looked indifferent, simply tilting his head to the side to avoid it, not even getting a single hair singed in the process.

"That's a Beamos." Navi explained. "You can't do anything about it right now. Just avoid the blue beams and you should be fine."

"The blue is pretty. Like cake." Link said, a clueless expression on his face, per usual.

"Right. Whatever." the fairy responded. The party dragged Link onto the next platform, since he was rambling about how a cake made of eyeballs would be cool because his food would stare at him. After sneaking past another Beamos, they went past a door and found themselves in a stone hall with medium-sized dinosaur-like monster walking around.

"Those are Baby Dodongos." Navi said. "Slash their tails and step back."

"Why?" Joey turned.

"Just do it." the fairy ordered. Link was way ahead of them, and slashed mindlessly at the monster, which made a screeching sound before collapsing to the floor, lifeless. Kurama grabbed Link's shoulder and jerked him back. It was just in time, too, because the creature exploded.

"Fireworks!" Link cheered. The rest of the party had disposed of the rest of the creatures, and there was a small series of "booms" as each monster exploded, one right after the other.

"That's kinda cool." Joey smirked.

"You would think that's cool." Katara looked off to the side.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joey twitched.

"Let's continue onward." Kurama said smoothly, and the pair halted what was going to be another argument. They came to another room, with some strange statues and a switch in the middle.

"I assume we use a statue to weigh the switch down." Kurama pointed, having figured out the solution in seconds. "I'm guessing the switch unbars the door."

"These statues are nifty." Link stupidly walked up to one and poked it. That was a bad idea and the statue erupted into life, wildly and violently hopping around making horrible groaning noises as it did so. "OH MY NAYRU IT'S POSSESSED. MAKE IT GO AWAY." The boy had been knocked onto his behind and clumsily scooted over to Kurama, who he hid behind in terror.

"I think it'll be okay, Link." Kurama looked down at the boy, who had jumped to his feet and was clutching Kurama by the jacket.

"Oh, whatever. It'll stop in…3…2….1…now." Navi snapped, and as if it were clockwork, the statue halted in place. "That's an Armos. Most of the time, they're just statues, but sometimes, you find one that comes alive and tries to kill you."

"Why didn't you give us a heads-up?" Joey turned.

"It's rare to find one that actually comes alive." the fairy said bluntly. "I didn't actually think one would."

"Joey, come here and help me push a statue onto the switch." Kurama instructed.

"Yeah…but what if it does what the other statue did?" Joey whined.

"You heard Navi." Kurama waved his hand. "If it's rare, than the chances are that the rest of the statues are just statues." The blond sighed loudly, but complied, and the pair shoved the statue onto the switch, opening the door. Link was no longer scarred for life and happily waltzed towards the, opening it and crossing through without a second thought. The rest of the party followed their so-called leader and found themselves standing behind him, staring at a hot room full of lava, with large rock platforms floating in said lava.

"Okay…" Katara looked around. "I see the door, but…it's barred shut. What do we do to get it unbarred?" She turned her attention towards the redhead, who seemed to have become their resident puzzle-solver.

"Defeat these monsters." Kurama pointed indifferently to a pair of bipedal, lizard-like monsters hopping towards them, the mouths open to bare fangs. They were clutching swords in their clawed hands and they red armor on.

"Lizalfos." Navi said. "They're pretty pathetic actually. Just don't get decapitated and this fight should be pretty easy."

"Ah!" Joey blocked a sword-slash from one of the Lizalfos. "Thanks for the warning." Joey sounded more sarcastic and than honest. A little teamwork disposed of the creatures very easily, as Navi predicted and the door became unbarred. Walking through it, they found a large, stone pillar surrounded perfectly by two rows of bomb flowers on either side.

"That's a lot of bomb flowers." Joey blinked a couple of times, and then scratched the back of his head. "Have a dead end or something? I don't see a door."

"There's stuff up above us, though." Katara pointed. "So we might have to go up instead of straight."

"Hmm…" Kurama tapped his chin thoughtfully before walking forward without a word. He carefully plucked up a bomb flower from a cluster in the corner of the room and placed the explosive flower in the middle of the two rows. Taking a few calm steps back, the bomb exploded and caused, two by two, the rest of the bombs to explode. There was a rumbling sound before the pillar collapsed into a set of stairs.

"Yay." Aya said, her arms crossed.

"The rumbling means the floor is hungry." Link said, his voice clueless. "We should feed it." Ignoring the boy's rant, they walked up the stairs and turned a corner, walking through another door to find themselves in a maze of sorts. Around each corner were spike-like contraptions.

"Um…Someone keep a hold of Link." Navi turned to the rest of the party. "I don't think the princess wants one of her heroes to become a shish kabob."

"Is that like a horse?" Link looked up at Navi.

"No." the fairy responded, unintentionally breaking the boy's heart, not that Navi cared. Kaori grabbed a hold of Link, dragging him around each corner at the signal of Kurama. They found a wooden ladder that led to the top of the maze and climbed up it.

"I can see my house from here!" Link cheered, throwing his arms in the air.

"Link, shut up." the fairy commanded, and the boy's arms dropped to his side in defeat. There was a bomb flower next to them and a door covered with flimsy stone. Joey grew a delighted smirk on his face and grabbed the bomb, chucking the bomb at the door and watched as the stone blew up and fell to the floor carelessly.

"Sweet." Joey smirked, pumping his fist.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." Kurama said dryly, glancing at the blond.

"I don't know why either." Joey tapped his chin. "I didn't think I liked fire and explosions until a little while ago."

"Not surprising, really." Katara said. "It just seems like you."

"I'm stopping this now before we have another war." Navi interrupted before the two burst into another argument. They both nodded and they continued onto the next room. There were three platforms that led to another door. On the side there was an eye switch and the middle platform was on fire. After some guidance from Navi, Link was able to hit the switch with his slingshot and rid the platform of fire so the party could get to the next door. In the next room they quickly passed through it and found a small step with a big treasure chest.

"We found treasure!" Link cheered, eagerly opening the chest. He nearly fell into the chest trying to pull out his prize, but with a little help from Kurama, was able to retrieve it. In the chest was a leather bag. Opening up the bag, Link pulled out a bomb.

"Bomb!" Link cheered. "There are bombs in here!"

"Oh goody." Aya rolled her eyes. "Just what I wanted Link to have his possession- explosives."

"Nayru help us all." Navi face-palmed.

"Well, this should certainly be interesting." Kurama said off-handedly.

"Sweet, bombs!" Joey was just as excited about it as Link was, his amber eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Right." Katara lifted an eyebrow.

"I vote that Link and Joey's use of the bombs should be limited." Aya turned.

"Agreed." Kaori just nodded her head hesitantly. They continued onward, to a bridge that crossed right above the main room of the cavern. They disposed of some Keese monsters as they crossed the bridge. They came across a gap in the bridge that was right above the eye socket of a large, blue Dodongo skull that rested in the pool of lava.

"I wonder if I can make the skull glow." Link said stupidly. "It would be pretty!" Before anyone could protest, Link had ripped out a bomb and dropped it into the eye socket of the skull. It exploded and the eye socket became lit up with red.

"Well…I wasn't expecting that." Navi blinked a couple of times. "Hey, nincompoop, do that to other eye." Link happily complied and he dropped a bomb into other socket. When both eyes were lit up together, the jaw of the skull dropped, revealing a door on the inside. The moving platforms also started to move higher, to their level.

"How do we get back to the bottom?" Kaori asked innocently. "The platforms are really slow."

"We jump." Aya turned to her friend, who squealed at the thought.

"No…No…Just…no." Kaori stuttered, hesitantly stepping back.

"We're just jumping to the platforms. Why should we have to go through all of that again just to get to the bottom? That'd be wasting time." Aya placed a hand on her hip. "And we're not supposed to waste time, remember? We're ending a food shortage, right?"

"I…I…" Kaori was frozen. "No!"

"It's like flying!" Link grabbed Kaori's wrist. "We're like birds! Without the feathers! Come on!" Link yanked the petrified girl forward and leapt off the bridge, laughing as they landed on the oncoming platform. The rest of the party just shrugged and leapt off too, landing on the platform. Once off the platform, they made their way over to the door that the skull's jaw had been hiding.

"Well…This is anticlimactic." Aya said, looking around. "For a door hidden by the skull of a dead monster, I expected something more threatening." She was right, though. The room was a simple dull brown and the only thing of interest was a hole in the middle of the floor.

"I'm kinda with her on this one." Joey pointed and turned to the rest of the party. "Pretty crappy deal for the trouble it took to get up there in the first place."

"I'm sure there is more to it than just the hole in the floor." Kurama walked over to the hole. "It's what's beyond the hole that might be interesting."

"Oh, the hole leads somewhere?" Aya walked over. "Hey, it does lead to some room."

"So, kiddies." Navi said. "Let's hop down the hole and find out.

"Joey, go first." Katara shoved him and Joey went tumbling down the hole, yelling curses while he did so. Link eagerly followed him, squealing in joy and the rest of the party, one by one, jumped down. The landed in a tangled pile, though, since Joey hadn't moved from the spot that he landed.

"Ow, someone's foot is in my ribcage." Aya choked out.

"Something hurts." Link whined, his foot twitching. "I don't know what hurts but something hurts!"

"Joey, why didn't you move?" Katara growled, trying to untangle herself from the pile.

"T-that…" Joey trailed off mid-sentence, his amber eyes wide with shock.

"What?" Katara maneuvered and popped her head out of the pile. Her blue eyes widened in shock.

"Holy…crap…" Aya trailed off. The pile fell apart and everyone landed gracelessly to the ground, but they didn't care. Their eyes were all wide (save Kurama, who was never fazed by anything) at what was before them.

"We're screwed…." Joey stated simple, his eyes still wide in shock.

**A/n:** Yay, another revamped chapter. Woot.

Review, please!


	10. Aftermath of the Cavern

**A/n: **This chapter is now revamped. Hooray!

**Disclaimer**: Whatever.

**Chapter 10: Aftermath of the Cavern**

"This thing looks like it needs a hug." Link completely broke the moment. Scratch that. Link completely _obliterated___the moment with his comment. "Hugs make everyone feel better. If we hug this thing, won't it become our friend?"

"Link! The thing is breathing _fire_ in your _face._" Navi seethed, glaring down at her partner.

"But…" Link looked up with his puppy eyes.

"No!" Navi ordered. "This thing wants to eat you for dinner! I can't believe I'm even having this conversation with you!"

"Less conversing, more defeating this thing before it kills us…" Aya trailed off, pulling out her sword. Every one else pulled out their weapons. Kaori was trembling a bit, apparently petrified of the giant, fire-breathing dragon in front of them.

"This thing is King Dodongo." Navi turned, watching as the group avoided a blast of fire from the dinosaur's mouth. "I don't know how to kill it, though."

"My arrows are going to be nothing against it." Kaori squeaked.

"Hm…" Kurama mumbled before whirling around and snatching a bomb from Link's bag. The boy stared up in confusion, as did everyone else, as the redhead threw the bomb into King Dodongo's mouth when it opened it to shoot out more fire. The bomb exploded and the monster crumpled the ground, stunned.

"I'm not questioning that." Joey ran forward, and Link followed the older blonde's lead, dashing forward and slashing it repeatedly. King Dodongo came to, and curled up into a spiky ball. It began to roll wildly around the room.

"Ah!" Link got yanked to the side by Joey, who, along with the rest of the party, pressed themselves against the wall to avoid the monster as it rolled by. After it had passed them, they ran after it, to catch it in time. Unfortunately, when the monster stopped, it turned around and blasted the party with fire.

"Ah!" Katara squealed, leaping off to the side and dodging most of the fire. The fire hadn't severely burned any of them, but the burns they had were annoying.

"Link, throw a bomb like Kurama did!" Navi ordered. The boy scrambled and pulled a bomb out of his bag and threw it with all of his might. It successfully landed in the mouth and the monster fell to the floor in a dazed heap, yet again. Aya and Katara took their chance, this time, slashing it with their sword and water whip, respectively. Katara's water whip proved to be something of a weakness to the fire-breather, and it squeaked in pain when in contact with it.

"Okay, run again." Joey yelped, snatching up their leader and throwing himself against the wall, protecting Link just in case. The rest followed his lead and avoided King Dodongo as it rolled around uncontrollably.

"Catch up with it!" Katara yelled and they ran after the monster. They remembered it breathing fire this time and most of them dodged the monster's fire breath. Link tripped in his running and stared up with shocked, blue eyes as the monster charged up more fire breath.

"Link, get out of the way!" Kaori called out, her stormy eyes wide with worry. Joey, who was next to him, grunted in effort and leapt to the side, shielding Link from the blast to his best ability. Worrying about injuries later, they chucked a bomb into its mouth and watched as it fell over again. Everyone all attacked at once in one final joint-attack, and finally, the monster yelled out in pain. They all took a step back and watched as it rolled around, screaming in pain before falling into the lava and burning up, dying.

"Take that, you fiend!" Link pointed his finger and began laughing in a slightly maniacal fashion. "No more alien-possessed cow demons will fight against us!"

"Alien-possessed cow demons?" Navi sighed. "Wait, why am I trying to question that?"

"Is everyone still in one piece?" Kurama turned, casually placing his hands in his pockets like he hadn't just been fighting a large, fire-breathing dinosaur.

"I think so." Joey rubbed the back of his head.

"Let's worry about that later." Navi turned, gesturing towards a blue portal that had appeared. The party agreed with that, and stepped into the blue portal, which transported them to the entrance of Dodongo's Cavern. Before anyone could take a step forward, a spiked boulder fell from the sky, which uncurled itself into Darunia.

"You all did it!" Darunia placed his hands his belly, laughing heartily. "Now my people can have as many special, sirloin rocks as they please!"

"Yeah, believe it or not." Katara shook her head.

"I'm a bit surprised you all did it, actually." Darunia smiled. "But you all look awful." He winced a bit, a look of sympathy on his face as he looked at everyone's rips and burns.

"Well, I guess I expect nothing less from fighting a giant dinosaur." Aya looked down at herself.

"It was possessed by an evil cow demon that wanted to take over my head and use me to perform evil tasks for him. Stuff like stealing milk from the ranch-place and pouring it on the king's head and watch him scream because he got milk in his eyes and it burns. But then he'll laugh because he is getting milk and milk is good. And he'll give 'me' the kingdom for making him happy and 'I'll' force everyone to worship me by making them wear neon-yellow fuzzy sweaters and pink wedding veils and yelling 'All praise the guardian of milk and other good things' while making them drink milk and eat goat cheese sprinkled with cinnamon and cherries. Because that's funny and 'I'll' get fun watching them eat it." Link stopped for a second. "HAHAHAHAHAHAA." Link commenced with the maniacal laughter.

"Okay…" Darunia took a few steps back before turning to the rest of the party.

"I think the heat fried his brain." Aya stated bluntly.

"What?" Link asked innocently, snapping back into reality. "Am I the only one that thinks about that?"

"Link, shut up." Navi looked down at her partner, who sulked in defeat.

"Anyways." Darunia interrupted. "I didn't forget what I said. I always keep my promises. Here's the Goron's Ruby." Darunia pulled out a shining red crystal with gold lining. He handed it to Link, with a hint of reluctance, and their de facto leader stared at the stone with amazement in his eyes.

"This stone is so shiny and pretty and shiny…" Link trailed off for a moment. "It reminds me of Kurama!"

"Me?" Kurama lifted an eyebrow.

"It's red and shiny and so is your hair!" Link beamed. "It reminds me of you!"

"Um…Thank you, I suppose." Kurama just shook his head a bit.

"It is shiny, isn't it?" Darunia tapped his chin before waving a hand nervously. "The stone, I mean!"

"Right." Aya shook her head.

"You all are a brave group of kids, aren't you?" Darunia crossed his muscular arms. "You're trying to save Hyrule from that man? I owe you everything, then."

"Not really." Katara smiled. "It's fine."

"No. How about I make us sworn brothers and sisters?" Darunia laughed again. "It is considered an honor in Goron culture to be made sworn siblings!"

"Is there a party that involves dancing, singing and an octopus?" Link asked, his eyes wide in excitement. "I could put a hat on the octopus and it can help me sing my Happy Dancing Cucco Song!"

"No, brothers and sisters." Darunia waved a hand. "There's no need for such…festivities."

"Good. I'm not much of a party person." Aya shrugged her shoulders. Kurama nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm glad we're sworn brothers and sisters, then!" Darunia smiled. "But one more thing. While you're on this mountain, you should go see the Great Fairy at the top."

"Is she a giant light bulb, like Navi?" Link cocked his head innocently.

"Link, shut up." Navi twitched, her blue aura flickering in annoyance.

"The Great Fairy might be able to help you in your journey." Darunia said. "And she'll be able to fix you all up."

"Sounds like a plan." Joey pumped a fist. "Nothing to lose, that's my motto!"

"Yeah, we apparently already lost our sanity judging by Link's milk rant earlier." Aya crossed her arms.

"Okay, brothers!" Darunia threw his arms in the air and three more Gorons fell from the sky. "Let's give our new heroes a proper Goron farewell!" The three Gorons outstretched their arms and began stalking towards the group slowly.

"Hugs!" Link seemed enthusiastic about the idea.

"Why does it feel like I'm being hunted by zombies?" Aya took a step back and turned to the rest of the party.

"Run!" Navi ordered.

"But…the hugs!" Link whined, but Joey grabbed him by the back of the shirt, halting Link's protests. The group ran up the mountain path, dodging the Gorons as they ran. They skidded to a stop when they far enough away, where Joey dropped Link and tried to catch his breath.

"I still wanted hugs." Link looked put-off by obvious lack of hugs.

"Okay, I don't want to be chased by Gorons who want hugs ever again." Aya huffed, clearly annoyed.

"Are you sure we weren't being rude?" Kaori turned.

"Highly doubtful." Aya sighed at Kaori. "Darunia was _laughing_. I'm pretty sure he did that on purpose."

"If he did, he's a jerk." Joey stood up. The party agreed on that and headed down the mountain path that led towards the top of the mountain. After blowing up some boulders that stood in their way, they stopped to rest for a moment, eating some provisions to get their strength up.

"Okay, this is where things get a bit rough." Navi explained as the party put their stuff away to continue. "Rocks will begin to fall as you walk down this path. Um…Don't die. I don't want to have to explain to Zelda that her heroes got squished by volcanic rock."

"Oh, joy." Aya grumbled. The party began to run down the path, taking Navi's advice and dodged the falling rocks. The rock barrages came in spurts, so they were able to predict where to dodge pretty easily. After a certain point, the rocks stopped falling and they came to a wall, which they could climb, covered by a few Wallskulltulas.

"Spiders!" Link declared.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Navi groaned. "Just shoot them down!"

"But…they're evil." Link frowned.

"This is why you kill them." Aya turned. "Pretty simple." After a bonk to the head from Navi, Link shot down the spiders and the party climbed up the wall. Upon getting to the top, they were surprised by a familiar "Hoo-hoo!" noise.

"Demonic demons of demonic doom!" Link pointed, screaming in terror. His fear almost caused him to slip off the edge, but Kurama calmly grabbed his arm, keeping their beloved leader from falling to his demise.

"Hoo!" Kaepora Gaebora greeted them, perched on a sign. "I see you've all gotten a lot stronger since I last saw you!"

"MAKE IT GO AWAY." Link whined, hiding behind Kurama. "It wants my soul. MAKE IT GO AWAY."

"Right." Kaepora Gaebora seemed blissfully unaware of Link's fear.

"We really seem stronger?" Kaori asked hesitantly.

"Why of course!" Kaepora Gaebora laughed. "Much stronger! Some of you have discovered the ability to control an element, have you not?"

"Oh, yeah." Joey stared down at his hands.

"Yes. This is just one of many signs of your budding powers!" Kaepora Gaebora seemed thrilled. "There's another sign, as well. Joey?"

"What? I didn't do it." Joey turned around, his amber eyes wide in surprise. "Wait...Huh?"

"You all were faced with a terrible fire-breathing dinosaur." the owl stated. "Look at yourself carefully, Joey. Do you notice anything different about your injuries and everyone else's?"

"Huh?" Joey began to inspect himself carefully. After a moment of looking between himself and the others, his eyes widened. "I don't have any burns, do I?"

"You don't?" Kaori looked at him, her eyes widening in shock, too.

"Hey, look, you don't!" Katara placed a hand on her hip, inspecting the blond.

"That is correct." Kaepora Gaebora hooted. "But why is for you to discover as your journey continues. What are journeys without new secrets to unlock, no?"

"O…Okay…" Joey still seemed a bit confused.

"It's logical to assume that if you can control fire, you are immune to burns as well." Kurama said calmly, turning to Joey. "This is just a guess, though."

"I guess you might be right." Joey clapped his hands. "Oh well! This just makes me cooler!"

"Yeah, cooler my water-wielding butt." Katara huffed.

"What? You don't think I'm cool?"

"Well, why should I think a moron like you is cool?"

"I am not a moron! You're a jerk! Are you just looking for trouble?"

"You don't need to be burnt for me to hurt you, you know!"

"Try!"

"I will try!"

"You wont' get anywhere! You can't hurt me!"

"Are you challenging you?"

"I can't challenge you because you have to challenging to fight in the first place!"

"Oh, you're going to wish you didn't speak here in a second!"

"I don't regret anything!"

"You'll regret being born if you don't shut up!"

"Right…Anyways." Navi turned.

"Well, then." Kaepora Gaebora didn't seem to notice the arguing pair. "I'll see you again!" With that, the owl flew off.

"Hey, you two!" Navi called out. "Quit arguing and let's get moving!"

"Okay." Katara huffed, crossing her arms and turning away from Joey. They came to two cave entrances: one that had a sign in front of it that said "Death Mountain Crater- Enter at your own risk" and another one that was blocked by a rock wall.

"I'll blow the cave up with the nifty things!" Link pulled out a bomb and threw it at the wall, causing it to crumble when the bomb exploded, revealing a tunnel. The party walked past the tunnel and felt cool, refreshing air was over them. They were in a sanctuary of sorts, with decorated fountains on either side. Crystal clear water dripped down indigo walls, making the entire sanctuary sparkle like the evening sky. In front of what looked like the main fountain, made with white marble, was a Triforce insignia.

"I assume you play the lullaby again." Kurama pointed out, tapping the Triforce insignia with his foot.

"Okay!" Link pulled out his ocarina and miraculously played the right song the first time. Once the lullaby had ended, there was a silence.

"Hahahaha!" a loud, girlish laugh caused everyone, sans Kurama, to jump out of their skin. In a flash of light, a woman emerged from the fountain, floating in the air, crossing her legs in a playful, lady-like fashion. She was pretty in an exotic kind of way, with a delicate, pointed chin and nose that was arched and just a tad bit too big for her face. She had a mole under one of her yellow eyes. Her long, rose pink hair was held in three ponytails. She was scantily clad in nothing but vines, wrapping around her curvaceous chest, hips and legs, to her mid-thing. She wore black, heeled boots that went to her knees, and a vine-like ring on one of her fingers, as well as a vine tiara of sorts.

"Hello, young ones!" the Great Fairy laughed. "I am the Great Fairy of Magic."

"Um….Wow." Joey blinked a few times.

"Is it comfortable to wear vines?" Link asked innocently, but was silenced when Navi bonked him on the head.

"You all have done well to come up here and find me!" she said. "Let me grant you magic as a gift from me, young one!" She kissed her palms and outstretched her arms. Suddenly, a gold-green light engulfed Link.

"That was warm." Link smiled stupidly.

"Do we not get magic?" Joey was going to continue, but Katara elbowed him for being rude.

"Oh, young ones." the Great Fairy smiled kindly. "I do not need to grant the rest of you something which you already have."

"Huh?" Joey blinked.

"You have demonstrated it before, young ones." she continued. "You will master your abilities in due time."

"This magic-we-already-have-it-we're-chosen-ones thing is getting a bit confusing." Joey sighed loudly.

"Yay!" Link cheered.

"The idea of Link wielding magic scares me as much as the idea of Link wielding explosives." Aya said dryly.

"It scares us all, trust me." Navi agreed.

"Now, let me all heal your wounds!" the Great Fairy kissed her palms again, outstretching her arms. The group was then engulfed in a cool, blue light. It was soothing and the light cleared away all the wounds on their bodies, magically repairing their ripped and damaged clothing.

"Thanks! I feel great now." Joey looked down at himself.

"It doesn't feel like we just almost died." Aya seemed satisfied.

"You all should visit my friend near Hyrule Castle." the Great Fairy smiled. "When you all are weary from battle, come and see me!" With another laugh, she disappeared into her fountain.

"I certainly wasn't expecting the Great Fairy to be dressed in just vines." Aya tapped her chin.

"I wanted a giant ball of light." Link frowned, like his hopes were just mercilessly crushed.

"You know, what do you look like under there, Navi?" Joey turned to the fairy.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Navi retorted.

"Just curious." Joey shrugged.

"Okay, prepare yourself, kiddies." Navi seemed unenthusiastic.

"Oh, we have to go down the mountain again, don't we?" Joey looked crushed.

"Adventure!" Link cheered.

"Yeah. Adventure." Aya twirled a finger.

"To forever and beyond!" Link began marching down the path again, undaunted by the idea of going through the mountain for the bajillionth time.

"Big Whoop." Navi groaned, plopping down on Link's head. The party began their trek down the mountain, following their leader as he marched proudly. "Put some extra emphasis on the 'whoop'."

**A/n**: There. Another revamped chapter. I did keep Link's milk rant, because it was one of my personal favorites. And also, a reviewer mentioned it. So, there.

Review!


	11. To the Domain of Aquatic People

**A/n:** This chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer**: Sure.

**Chapter 11: To the Domain of Aquatic People**

There was warmth as the Hyrule Sun poked out over the horizon, slowly blanketing Hyrule Castle Town in its gold glow. To the cry of a cucco, the residents began to scramble around as another day began. Waking to the growing hustle and bustle was the party, who were sleeping in their favorite alleyway in the town.

"You know, sleeping on cobblestone doesn't seem so painful anymore." Aya commented as they ate their breakfast.

"I know." Katara smiled. "My back doesn't have as many kinks."

"I'm actually surprised we're even allowed to sleep out in the alleyways." Kurama tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I mean, guards wander the streets all the time and no one has inquired why a group of children is sleeping in a dark alley."

"What about puppies?" Link turned.

"Link, shut up." Navi responded.

"So, what's on the game plan?" Joey turned to Navi and Kurama.

"Didn't the Great Fairy on the mountain say that there was another one here near the castle?" Kurama asked as he put away their supplies.

"Oh, right." Joey stood up.

"So are we going to see that fairy?" Kaori asked for confirmation. They decided that would be their next course of action, and made their way back to the castle. They used the vine wall to climb up and sneak past the gates again, and began their search for the Great Fairy Fountain.

"So, Navi, you're a fairy. Where's the Great Fairy?" Joey asked Navi after a few minutes of searching.

"I don't have a damned clue." the fairy responded, sitting lazily on Link's head.

"Shouldn't you have built-in fairy sonar or something?" the blond inquired, somewhat sarcastically, earning an annoyed flicker from Navi.

"What do I look like to you? Some kind of magical toy?" Navi twitched.

"Joey, be quiet!" Katara elbowed Joey. "Quit being rude!"

"What? I was asking?" Joey said defiantly.

"I hate to interrupt, but we found it." Kurama said.

"Huh?" Joey whirled around, mid-argument. "How?"

"It was hidden behind a boulder over here, on this dead-end trail." Aya pointed. "Link blew up the boulder."

"Pretty fireworks." Link added, his face clueless, like usual. Ignoring Link's random comment, the party crawled through a small tunnel and entered another Great Fairy Fountain.

"Hey, dork, play the lullaby." Navi ordered, still sitting on his head.

"Huh? Okay!" Link pulled out the ocarina and played the lullaby. The laughter of the Great Fairy rang throughout the sanctuary and the fairy emerged, floating as if she were lying down on her belly. Otherwise, she looked exactly the same as the fairy from the fountain.

"So…Are they sisters or something?" Joey asked, cocking his head in confusion.

"Wouldn't be too radical of an idea, actually." Kurama shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Greetings, young ones!" the fairy smiled. "I am the Great Fairy of Power! For finding me, I shall grant you all a new ability! Please, hold out your hands!"

"Um…Okay." Katara said as the group complied with her command. She scanned her eyes over the party before smiling and kissing her palms, outstretching her arms in a magical gesture. Suddenly a flaming, glowing orb appeared in everyone's hands, each a different color. Link's was a normal flame, Kaori's was purple, Kurama's was green, Aya's was yellow, Joey's was red and Katara's was blue. After a few seconds, the orbs disappeared and there was a burning rush through everyone's bodies, like the orbs went inside them.

"I have granted you the sacred spell, Din's Fire! It's a spell of the Goddesses! If you cast it, a dome of fire will erupt around you. I'm sure you'll find it useful somehow." the Great Fairy explained. "When battle has made you weary, come and see me!" With that, the Great Fairy disappeared into her fountain.

"So…" Joey blinked a couple of times. "I'm still confused about the whole we-already-have-powers-thing."

"I'm sure you are." Kurama nodded. "I'm a bit confused myself."

"You're confused? You're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you?" Joey narrowed his eyes at the never-confused redhead.

"I mean it." Kurama waved a hand innocently. "Supernatural things like powers are normal on my world, so my ability to control plants isn't very unique there. Yet, apparently, my powers are because of whatever I am here, not normal."

"Same here." Katara agreed. "All sorts of people can 'control' the elements through martial artes on my world and they're called 'benders'. I'm new when in comes to 'bending' water, and I thought I was just like other benders. But apparently I'm not and my water powers are from this world."

"It's a bit surprising, I'm sure." Navi jumped in the conversation.

"Magic and stuff like that are just fiction on my world." Aya looked off to the side. "It was a bit hard to take all of this at first. Especially finding out I can use magic."

"Same here." Kaori piped. "I didn't know I could use magic. It's not something you use on our world."

"Magic is for people with special items on my world." Joey sighed. "I never had one of those items or any special abilities. I played second fiddle to the guys who did."

"I never had anything special because everyone in the village didn't like me." Link looked down, his blue eyes watery. "I didn't have a fairy until Navi came around. Everyone thought I was a freak."

"Yeah, we met Mido. I figured that out." Aya twitched.

"Y'all are in the same boat, then." Navi commented. "If we find all the spiritual stones, I'm sure Zelda will explain more to us. She seems to know what's going on."

"Right. Enough blabbing about what's already happened." Aya shrugged her shoulders. "Where are we headed now?"

"Impa mentioned to us the people who live down the river, the Zoras." Kurama pointed out.

"The Zoras would most likely have the spiritual stone of water." Navi said dryly. "They are aquatic people and all."

"Then it fits." Katara nodded. After stocking up on supplies in the market, they exited the town and turned.

"Where's the flowing thing with the whooshy liquid stuff?" Link asked Navi, looking up at his companion.

"It's right in front of you, buddy." Joey pointed.

"There's the flowing thing with the whooshy liquid stuff!" Link threw his finger forward. "Onward, ahoy!" The party all sighed loudly and followed their leader across a bridge. They then began to trek down the river.

"This place is peaceful. I'll take a river over a hot, sweaty mountain any day." Katara said. Indeed, the river was serene in a way. The water that flowed through the river was blue and clear. There was a cool breeze that blew, toying with the emerald green grass that they walked in.

"Tell me about it." Aya rolled her eyes.

"I liked the mountain better for some reason." Joey whined.

"Oh, quit whining." Katara turned.

"Why do you always get all aggressive with me?"

"Because you're annoying!"

"I'm not annoying!"

"Keep telling yourself that!"

"I've always wanted to listen to a heated argument while on a stroll though a quiet river valley." Aya looked off to the side. "It goes well with the happy butterflies and the sunshine."

"Indeed." Kurama nodded.

"Do butterflies have anything to do with babies?" Link asked.

"Babies?" Joey stopped, mid-argument, turning around to Link.

"Babies!" Link cheered. With that, the conversation ended, as did the argument, and the party continued down the river. A few hours later, they passed a wooden plank bridge and found themselves on a platform facing a waterfall.

"Hey, is that a plaque?" Katara looked down at the ground.

"Yeah. It says 'This waterfall serves the King of Hyrule. When the King sleeps, so do these falls.'" Navi read aloud.

"Huh? We have to wake someone up?" Link asked. "If so, I can give them milk and sing my Happy Dancing Cucco Song!"

"I highly doubt that." Navi said.

"Let's try the lullaby." Kurama suggested. "It works for everything else."

"Seriously." Aya said. "If it works for everything, all it takes is for the wrong person to learn it, play it and then screw everything up. You think the Royal Family would be…I don't know, more smart and make other songs to unlock different things."

"They're lazy." Katara nodded in agreement. Link went ahead and played the lullaby. In some mysterious motion, the waterfall parted, revealing an entrance they could hop into. Once past the entrance, the party found themselves in what seemed to the picture of paradise. The cool, sparkling domain of the Zoras was filled with cool, blue waters filling a giant pool near the entrance and coming out a large waterfall. It was a weaving, twisting labyrinth, with paths curving to and fro.

"The Zoras are kind of pretty!" Katara clapped her hands. The Zoras were a very radiant and elegant group of beings. Lithe and flexible, they were tall, with rich aqua blue skin and long, flowing fins that seemed iridescent. Their eye colors ranged from dark blue to light shades of pink and violet.

"Okay, I like this better than the mountain now." Joey looked around.

"I want to swim in the water!" Link cheered. "Come on, let's play in the water!" Link grabbed Kaori's hand.

"Wait, Link!" Kaori squealed as Link jerked her forward and the two went diving into the crystal waters below.

"I guess we have no choice." Kurama shrugged, seeming indifferent to the idea of swimming. The rest of the party followed the pair into the waters, finding the pool to be much warmer than it looked- the waters were just warm enough.

"Hey, who are you all?" a voice startled the group and they turned to see one a Zora floating next to them, a curious look in their deep blue eyes.

"Hey! Do you eat fish?" Link asked. "Wait…Are you a fish? Because if you are, then you're eating fish…Ahh! Are you person-eating-person?"

"You mean a cannibal?" Aya turned.

"Link! Shut up!" Navi scolded and the boy shut up. "Ignore him."

"I'm a Zora." the Zora explained. "We serve the Royal Family by guarding the waters of Hyrule!"

"I like water. It tastes like liquid. And liquids are good….Like water…and milk!" Link rambled.

"What's his obsession with milk?" Aya turned.

"I'm not asking. I'm certain that not even Link knows why, anyway." Kurama shrugged.

"He'll probably forget he said anything in the first place." Navi commented.

"You all are the ones who played the lullaby and got in here right?" the Zora asked and received nods. "The Royal Family is sending kids now? I guess it's more inconspicuous."

"I never thought of it that way." Katara mused.

"I wouldn't call us inconspicuous." Aya sighed.

"Does inconspicuous have to do with ham and cheese?" Link asked.

"No. Link, shut up." Navi ordered and the boy responded with a sullen nod.

"Good luck with the King." the Zora rolled its eyes. "Ever since our princess went missing, the King has been an absolute wreck."

"The princess?" Kaori cocked her head.

"Yep. The King of the Zoras and his daughter, Ruto." the Zora explained. "She went missing the other day and he's been hopeless ever since."

"That might be a bad thing." Kurama had a thoughtful look on his face. "It's bad that the princess went missing anyways, but we probably won't be able to receive the King's assistance until after his daughter is returned. It's quite logical, really."

"Well, good luck!" the Zora waved and sunk back into the water. They group swam back to shore, where Katara used her water powers to dry them off.

"Let's at least go see the King." Navi said and the party wandered the twisting paths of the domain, keeping Link from getting lost along the way. They finally made it to a series of steps. After climbing the stairs, they found an absurdly large Zora, one that was a pale blue with dark blue blotches. He was huge and bloated-looking with tiny arms and feet. He had beady blue eyes and wore a gold headdress and a red cape lined with gold.

"Um…Your majesty…." Joey trailed off, lifting a finger.

"I don't think he heard you." Navi said.

"He's a blob!" Link cheered. "Hey! Fish King!" Link waved his arms frantically.

"Oh, where can you be? My dear, sweet Ruto. Where have you gone?" the King didn't even notice their existence.

"There's no point in trying to reason with a worried father." Kurama said. "Why don't we go searching for clues about her disappearance? If we find a lead or something, he may actually listen to what we have to say."

"Sure. Whatever." Joey nodded and the party walked down another tunnel. The end of the tunnel turned out to be the top of the waterfall. Standing there was another Zora.

"Hey!" the Zora called out, her voice high and feminine sounding- a female Zora. "Do you all want to play a game? The prize might be worth your while!"

"Games?" Link's eyes widened. "I like games! Let's play!"

"I guess we're playing." Aya rolled her eyes.

"D-does…it require jumping off the waterfall?" Kaori stuttered.

"It's a simple diving game." the Zora explained. "Just dive in after the rupees!" She nodded to the party, signaling the game's start and she tossed in a bunch of rupees. Link leapt off the waterfall fearlessly.

"I won't-" Kaori was cut off by Aya shoving her off the waterfall. She splashed into the waters with a loud scream.

"Dive bomb!" Joey called out as he jumped, with the rest following after. Once all together, they dove down into the pool, grabbing all of the rupees they could get. After a minute passed, the game instructor whistled, signaling the end.

"You all did it!" she waved from the top of the waterfall. "Come back here and get your prize." Going back to the top, the Zora greeted them with a lively smile on her face.

"Congratulations." she said. "Some of you dove off of that waterfall like professionals! Hold out your hands." Everyone did so and she placed something small and thing in everyone's hand.

"This is a Silver Scale." she said, watching as the scale dissolved into everyone's skin.

"What does it do?" Katara asked.

"It is the scale of a Zora. It grants humans like you the ability to dive to deeper depths." the Zora explained.

"Sweet. Thanks!" Aya said.

"Can I be a blowfish?" Link asked Navi. "Blowfish are cool."

"No." Navi responded, not even bothering to say anything sarcastic. The party nodded their goodbyes to the Zora. They walked back down to the edge of the pool and got back in, swimming around.

"What's that?" Aya asked, pointing to what looked like a tunnel underwater.

"Oh, that's a portal." a Zora answered the question before anyone else could. "It leads to Lake Hylia." The Zora disappeared back underwater.

"Well…Thanks." Aya blinked, slightly surprised by the sudden entrance and exit of the Zora.

"Lake Hylia?" Joey turned to Navi.

"Nothing to explain there." Navi said. "It's what it sounds like. It's a lake."

"Just asking." the blond shrugged.

"I want to go!" Link dove underwater and began swimming to the portal. Sighing loudly, the party all dove in after him, following him through the portal. A white haze filled their vision and when it cleared up, they found themselves in a wide, vast lake filled with bright blue water and sunshine. There were a couple of islands in the lake and they were connected by wooden plank bridges. A large tree sat atop the island farthest away, and there seemed to be some sort of entrance at the bottom of the island, underwater.

"So, why did we come here again?" Katara asked.

"Because Link decided we should, apparently." Navi answered. "Whatever."

"Wait, Navi, do you breath underwater?" Joey turned to the fairy.

"Yes. I can breath underwater. Because I'm a magical being and you're not." Navi stated bluntly.

"Anyways, who knows?" Kurama turned. "We may find a clue here or something." The party all nodded and explored the lake for a little while. After a little while, the party climbed ashore.

"Hey, wait…What's that?" Katara pointed and everyone followed her line of sight, seeing what looked like a bottle at the bottom of the lake, slightly hidden in the shadows.

"A bottle?" Kaori cocked her head.

"Joey, go get the bottle." Katara commanded.

"Why should I follow your orders?" Joey asked, defiance in his voice.

"Because I said so!" Katara clenched her fists.

"You're not the boss!"

"I don't care, go get the bottle!"

"Joey, it's the general consensus." Navi intervened. "Just go get the bottle."

"Damn, everyone's against poor Joey." Joey whined, but went to retrieve the bottle anyways.

"There's some sort of letter inside." Kaori pointed out. "Who's it from, I wonder?"

"Is it from the cow demons seeking revenge? Or wait…Is it from the demonic cuccos who lurk in the far corners of the earth and make huts out of seaweed and feathers from the Birds of Almighty-ness?" Link ranted before breaking into a brief fit of maniacal laughter.

"It's from Princess Ruto." Kurama confirmed, totally ignoring Link's rant. He was placed the letter gently back inside the bottle. "We got lucky. His Majesty should be interested in this."

"Where is she?" Aya turned.

"It said something about how she's inside Jabu-Jabu." Kurama explained. "Navi said that Jabu-Jabu is the deity of the Zoras, who lives in a fountain behind the domain."

"Oh. Wait, the deity lives?" Joey asked. "I thought deities were dead."

"Deities are dead." Katara rolled her eyes. "Most deities don't even have physical forms."

"Oh. I get it now." Joey nodded.

"Let's get back to the domain before Link asks a stupid question again." Navi ordered and the party swam through the portal, going back to the domain. They dried off with Katara's powers and then went back to King's chamber. Link jumped forward.

"Over here, Mr. Overlord of the Fish Men." Link waved.

"Oh, Ruto. Where are you?" the King was oblivious again.

"Link, just throw it at him." Navi said. "I highly doubt a measly bottle will do much damage to him and all of his blubber."

"Okay!" Link was absolutely overjoyed that he was allowed to throw objects at a king. He did so, with much delight, and the bottle hit him square in the head, fully catching the King's attention.

"What is this?" He asked, opening the bottle and reading the letter. "This is Ruto! She's inside Jabu-Jabu!"

"Um…Yeah." Joey said.

"Do fish sleep?" Link asked thoughtfully. "What do they dream about? Do they dream about seaweed? Do fish like milk? Or wood. They should dream about wood. Wood is good. Wait…I rhymed!"

"You all!" the King declared, pointing to the party. "You all will find her! Jabu-Jabu is behind this door, in the fountain!" He began to scoot, very, very slowly, to the side.

"Jabu-Jabu will have digested the Princess by the time this guy moves out of the way." Aya twitched.

"Ugh. Molasses is faster than this." Joey plopped down on the stairs.

"Does molasses have to do with bears?" Link looked up.

"No." Navi answered. "Oh well. This is a good chance for you to rest, I guess. I mean, this is going to take forever."

"Well, then." Kurama sat down. "Let us wait for him to move to then."

**A/n:** There you have it. Another chapter. Yay.

Review please!


	12. In the Belly of the Deity

**A/n: **This chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer: **…

**Chapter 12: In the Belly of the Deity**

"I'm back." Kurama came walking up the steps of to the throne room. It had taken a good fifteen minutes or so for the king to actually move to the side, so Kurama had been productive in that time and used the bottle the letter had come into to catch a fish.

"Why did we need a fish again?" Joey turned to the redhead.

"We can't simply walk into the belly of a giant fish, Joey." Kurama turned, as if this were common knowledge. "This is bait."

"Oh…Whatever." the blond shrugged. After a few minutes, the King had finally moved off to the side far enough for the party to get through.

"Yay!" Link cheered loudly. The party squeezed through and walked past a watery tunnel, finding themselves in what looked like a small lake or pond than a fountain. There were some trees here and there and a couple of caves off in the distance. In front of a stone platform was a large whale-like fish decorated with a red cape and a gold headdress.

"That's Jabu-Jabu?" Aya lifted an eyebrow. "Not to insult anyone's deity of worship but this is kind of unimpressive."

"Tell me about it." Joey cocked his head.

"He looks friendly." Link said happily. "He's our friend! What do I do?" Link looked up at Navi.

"Here." Kurama pulled out the bottle. "We feed him the fish. It's probably the only way he'll open his mouth.

"I can't believe we have to go _inside_ of that thing." Aya shuddered.

"I'm not too thrilled about it myself." Katara crossed her arms.

"Do I feed it the bottle?" Link asked. "Do fish like glass? Wait…does glass taste like fish? I'm confused!" Link whined.

"If he ate a princess, I wouldn't be too surprised if he at glass." Aya commented.

"What he eats right now isn't the point." Navi declared. "Just dump the fish on the ground!" Link complied with this order and he dumped the fish on the ground. There was an awkward silence as Jabu-Jabu's beady eyes stared at the fish. Then, the large fish opened its massive mouth, sucking in everything around him like a vacuum.

"Watch out!" Navi called out the party. Everyone sans Kurama let out a surprised scream before their worlds went black for a moment.

"This is sick in every way possible." Aya said when the party came to, staring down at her arms covered in various gunk and goo.

"Ewww…." Katara's face was contorted in disgust, flicking some gunk off of her hand.

"It fits you." Joey smirked.

"Do you want to eat this gunk?" Katara seethed.

"I'm just pointing it out." Joey looked off to the side, feigning innocence.

"Yeah, pretend you're innocent. Regret it when you're digesting fish goo!" Katara was about to jump on Joey when Link broke the moment again.

"This is cool!" Link was genuinely amused, staring down at the strangely colored goo in fascination. "It would be cool this turned me into a fish mutant! I want to be a fish mutant! With fins and claws and fangs and the ability to breath underwater and the ability to shoot wads of goo at people and turn them into fish mutants and then create a fish mutant empire by taking over the world because not even the evil cow demons and their milk can stop fish mutants because fish mutants are cooler because they can do nifty stuff with their niftiness."

"Right." Navi sighed loudly. "Aw, damn. You're all gunk-y. I can't sit on your head."

"How did you avoid getting covered in goo?" Joey narrowed his eyes.

"I'm cooler than you." Navi said simply.

"Whatever." the blond responded, looking off to the side. The party stood up and shook themselves off to their best abilities, deciding it would be better if they just ignored the gunk caked in their clothes. They walked forward a few steps before getting hit with a barrage of rocks. Shooting at them up ahead were too octopus-like monsters firing the rocks.

"What are these things?" Katara took a step back to avoid the monsters.

"Octoroks." Navi explained. "You defeat them like you do the Deku Scrubs- by reflecting their rocks back at them. Link!"

"Pie?" Link turned around.

"Use your shield and shoot those things." the fairy ordered. The green-clad boy nodded and, after a few tries, he managed to defeat the creatures. Then, per Kurama's suggestion, Link used his sling shot to hit Jabu-Jabu's uvula to open up the way to the next part, which worked. After some traveling, they came to a large room that, like everything else, was muscle, and it large holes everywhere and electric jellyfish monsters flying around. Standing next to one of the holes was a small Zora girl.

"Who are you?" the girl asked in a defiant voice, glaring at the party with pink eyes. She had a bigger head than the Zoras, presumably because of her status, and there were pink jewels on either side of her head. She was small and skinny and her fins hadn't grown out completely. Despite her scrawny stature, she had an egotistical air about here.

"Is that the chick?" Link looked up at Kurama.

"I assume." Kurama put his hands in his pocket.

"THAT'S the princess?" Joey turned around. "Aren't princesses supposed to be pretty?"

"Don't be so rude!" Katara elbowed him.

"I didn't expect the princess to be so….weird." Link frowned, clearly upset.

"I'll just stop myself before I say something I'll regret." Aya crossed her arms. "Joey pretty much covered it."

"I asked you a question!" the Zora seemed extremely irritated with the group's babbling. She crossed her arms, a huffy look on her face, and she stamped one of her feet. "Answer me when I ask you one!"

"Sorry, you little brat." Aya mumbled, looking off to the side.

"Aya!" Kaori whispered back.

"Yeah, like I was the only one thinking that!" the girl retorted.

"The guy told us to go do the one thing and find the chick and do that other thing." Link explained.

"Enough with your incessant babbling!" the girl demanded. "I'm Princess Ruto of the Zoras! I am to be treated with respect. Now I asked you all a question. Explain yourselves properly! Why are you here and who are you?"

"Excuse us." Kurama intervened because Link was too busy being crushed by Ruto's angry outburst. "Your father sent us here. He received a letter from you."

"A letter? Whatever!" Ruto snapped. "I knew he would come looking for me."

"We found the letter in Lake Hylia, but whatever." Aya said. "Your father just said to come find you."

"Father worries too much." Ruto sighed. "I've been wandering around inside Jabu-Jabu for years. Even then, things are a bit strange, with the electric jellyfish and all. But what do you care? It's none of your business! Leave me be!" Ruto huffed loudly before turning around and jumping into the one of the holes in the floor, disappearing.

"She's scary." Link frowned. "You don't think I could play a happy song and she'd be happy like the rock guy, do you?"

"I'm not sure that would work." Navi said.

"I would use the ocarina to do other things to her." Katara twitched violently.

"Who's more annoying?" Aya asked. "Ruto or Mido?"

"Tough call." Joey tapped his chin.

"Do we follow the fish girl?" Link asked.

"Yes." Kurama nodded. The party followed after the girl, landing right next to her.

"Jeez, are you all really that worried about me?" Ruto crossed her arms, turning to face the party.

"No, not really." Navi answered. "We're just doing what your father told us to do."

"Well, you all seem persistent." Ruto looked off to the side. "Alright. I'll stay with you all, but we can't leave. I lost something very precious to me in here and I can't leave until I've found it."

"Yay! We'll help you find your thing!" Link pumped a fist, in a manner similar to how Joey normally did it. "We're heroes! Heroes who defend the populations from the evil cow overlords of doom!"

"Right…" Ruto just shook her head. "Well then, someone needs to carry me."

"Don't you have legs?" Aya asked.

"That's not the point!" Ruto exclaimed. "One of the guys must carry me!"

"Good." Katara just shrugged.

"Well, okay then." Navi said, analyzing the situation. "Link is too small to carry someone, Kurama's the puzzle-solver and I won't submit him to that torture, so Joey, that leaves you. Have fun."

"Wait, what?" Joey turned. "Why am I the volunteer?"

"Have fun, Joey." Katara elbowed him playfully. Joey just frowned in defeat and picked up the girl, placing her on his shoulders. "You all owe me."

"Does owe have to do with cottage cheese?" Link asked.

"Link, shut up and move." Navi ordered. They went through a door and found themselves in a room with an empty area in the middle that looked like it housed water of some kind. They had to find someway to get across, though. The dip in the middle was too deep and there was no way to the other side. They hopped down to the middle of the dip and found what looked like a switch. Curiously, Joey tripped the switch and water began to fill the reservoir.

"Ah!" Joey, in a moment of impulsive thinking, threw the princess he was holding up the other platform with all of his might, while he and the party got caught in the rising water.

"Actually, that was kind of like taking a bath." Aya said once they were on the platform Ruto was on. "It washed all that gunk off of me."

"I'm glad about that." Katara said, getting up and using her water powers to dry them off.

"That was mean!" Ruto huffed. "Why did you throw me?"

"Well, because since you're apparently so delicate, you must not want have swum in that water, right?" Aya turned. Ruto just crossed her arms in defiance.

"Just continue carrying me." Ruto ordered Joey.

"Whatever your wish is, princess." Joey said sarcastically. He put the princess back on his shoulders and they continued down, walking past a few tunnels before getting to a room that had many tunnels to other rooms. Most of the rooms were blocked by thick, muscle-like pillars, so they chose to go into a room that wasn't blocked. They were taken by surprise when one the door became covered by thick membrane and a series of stingray-like monsters rose from the floor to attack.

"Ah!" Ruto exclaimed, clearly surprised by the monsters. Joey put her down behind him and pulled out his sword.

"Stingers." Navi started. "Don't hit them with a sword. You'll get electrocuted. Other than that, they're pretty easy to get rid of."

"Link and Kaori are the only ones with long-range weapons, though." Joey said.

"You can shoot balls of fire, remember?" Navi retorted. "And Katara does actually touch the enemy with her weapon. Her hands are physically on her whip."

"Oh yeah! Ignore me then." Joey stared at his hand. "Let's see if I can do this." Joey focused (as hard as Joey _could_ focus) and a fire ball appeared in his hands. A grin of triumph spread across Joey's face and he the flaming orb at one of the Stingers, incinerating it.

"Yay!" Link cheered with enthusiasm and shot off his slingshot, nailing one of the Stingers immediately. Meanwhile, Kaori had shot off her bow, eliminating another one. Kurama simply pulled out a rose and threw it at a Stinger in the style of a throwing dagger, piercing the Stinger, killing it.

"Um…" Aya stared at her own hands, carefully forming a ball of light. Satisfied with her creation, she shot it off at the Stinger in front of her, killing it immediately. Katara finished off the last one by slashing it with her water whip. Once all the monsters were defeated, a treasure chest appeared in the center of the room.

"Why is there a treasure chest magically appearing inside the bowels of a giant fish?" Aya asking what was a semi-relevant question.

"You know…" Katara tapped her chin. "That's a question."

"I don't think we want to know." Kurama said simply. He opened the chest for Link, who was struggling and failing to get inside of it. He pulled out a simple boomerang with a red jewel in it. He handed it to Link, who promptly cheered with excitement.

"Wait…What is this?" Link turned, still holding the weapon in his hand.

"A boomerang." Kurama explained patiently. "You throw it, hit objects, and it comes back to you because it's curved."

"Oh." Link stared. "Sweet!" Link put the item in his bag.

"Let's move on then." Navi said. "I really want to limit our time in this thing." Joey picked up Ruto again and they made their way to another room. The membrane covered the door again, and they were greeted to a large tentacle hanging from the center of the room.

"That looks wrong on so many levels." Joey said while he put Ruto down again.

"Ew, Joey! Shut up!" Katara growled.

"What's wrong?" Link asked, his eyes wide.

"Don't worry your innocent mind, Link." Navi explained. After a few minutes of maneuvering, they managed to use the boomerang to destroy the tentacle. The membrane disappeared and they figured out that, once the tentacle was defeated, one of the pillars blocking the doors disappeared as well. So, they repeated the process with all the tentacles until all the pillars were gone. After that, they went throw the last door and found themselves back in the room with the holes and electric jellyfish.

"Did we just go in circles?" Aya turned to Kurama.

"I don't believe so." Kurama tapped his chin. "We obviously got back up here somehow. But wasn't there an electric pillar over there blocking another hole?" He pointed to a hole in the corner of the room, where there was, indeed, a pillar blocking before.

"There was a what doing what?" Joey turned.

"Yeah, there was." Navi answered. "I guess we got rid of it along with the rest of the pillars. They party avoided the electric jellyfish, which Navi said were called "Bari", and hopped down the previously blocked pillar, landing in front of a door. They walked threw it, and once past, Ruto began to squirm in Joey's arms.

"There it is! There it is!" Ruto yelled in pure excitement. "Put me down! Put me down!" Joey put the girl down and watched as she leapt up on top of a platform and picked up a blue stone, lined with gold.

"Is that…?" Katara trailed off, noticing the similarities of that stone with the spiritual stones they had collected.

"That has to be it." Navi said. "That's the Zora's Sapphire, the spiritual stone of water."

"Oh, thank Nayru I found it." Ruto said, hugging the stone to her chest. "This was my mother's stone. I thought I lost it forever."

"Why her?" Link whispered to Navi, whining. "That's the shiny thing we're looking for!"

"Ahh!" Ruto's ear-piercing scream snapped everyone out of their thoughts. The platform she was standing on began rising up to an opening in the ceiling. Another scream of terror was heard from the aquatic princess until the platform fell back down.

"What is that?" Kaori squealed. In place of the small princess was a large, hideous creature that looked like an Octorok.

"Big Octo!" Navi said. "It's backside! That's its weakness." Big Octo hopped off of the platform. The platform began to spin around and it grew spikes, which made the battle difficult. The party was limited to only a small amount of space.

"Watch out!" Navi screamed. Big Octo began scooting around the small space rather quickly, coming towards the party at full speed, ready to barrel them over.

"Ah!" Joey grabbed Katara, who was frozen in shock because of the course of events and pressed her against the wall next to him. While Link and Kaori barely got over to the side, Aya and Kurama were the closest to Big Octo.

"Get over to the side." Kurama ordered, still relatively calm. He pushed Aya over to the wall to avoid the monster, but had no time to do so himself.

"Kurama!" Aya called out and Joey craned his head from his position against to the wall in time to see the redhead get violently slammed into the wall. He fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Kurama!" Link's voice was sad and he fell to his knees, shocked at seeing a friend hurt.

"Worry about that later!" Navi ordered, though it was clear she was concerned as well.

"Okay, that bastard is getting it." Joey pulled out his sword, a look of anger and resentment clear on his face. His amber eyes didn't have their normal gleam and they seemed almost scary "Link, come on!"

"Huh?" Link stood up. He nodded when he looked at the expression on Joey's face. He decided to push away his worry and his blue eyes got serious, losing their usual naiveté. He followed Joey's lead and pulled out his boomerang as the blonds charged after the monster. Link threw his boomerang with all of his might, stunning it, while Joey slashed away at its gummy flesh. Repeating the process a few more times, they managed to defeat the troublesome creature. The spiked platform sank back into the floor, looking like a regular platform again.

"Is he going to wake up?" Link asked, his eyes big and puppy-like.

"The guy got slammed against the wall by a rogue octopus." Navi said. "Give him a minute."

"Poke? Poke? Poke? Poke?" Link repeated as he poked the redhead with concern. They were all knelt on the ground, waiting worriedly for their voice of reason to wake up.

"I'm not sure if that's helping." Aya sighed.

"Poke? Poke?" Link continued to poke.

"Ow…" a pair of emerald eyes opened, and everyone froze for a moment.

"You're awake!" Aya sighed a breath of relief. "Good…"

"Finally. The anticipation was killing us all." Navi stated.

"I'm fine." Kurama sat up, looking down at Link who was still poking him. "Link? You can quit poking me now."

"Okay!" Link smiled.

"Anyways…" Kurama stood up, rubbing his head. "I'll be fine. Where are we going now?"

"You just got knocked unconscious by a giant, evil octopus and you're still not fazed?" Joey lifted an eyebrow at the redhead.

"Believe me, Joey, that is an experience I'd like to avoid having in the future." Kurama shook his head. "Let's continue on. I'm afraid Ruto might not be faring as well as I am."

"Kurama has a point." Navi said. "Let's go find that stupid princess." Taking Kurama's word for it, they continued on, using the platform to raise them to another level. Using some crates that Jabu-Jabu had swallowed, they tripped another switch and entered a room with three wagging, electric tongues that seemed to lead to a door on the other side.

"Are we at a dead end?" Joey asked.

"We can probably use Link's boomerang to stun the tongues." Kurama said. "We can just get to the door that way."

"Oh." Joey blinked. "Would that work?"

"Only one way to find out." Navi said. "Link, throw your boomerang at that thing." Doing as his companion said so, Link threw his boomerang, stunning the tongues long enough for the party use them as jumping platforms to the next door. They came to another large room with a uvula hanging from the ceiling. They managed to hit the uvula, revealing the door on the other side of the room.

"Okay, to find the exit, hopefully." Navi said. "Wherever that is."

"Well, logically speaking…Never mind." Aya stopped herself.

"If I don't think about it, it makes the situation less painful." Katara said, crossing her arms in disgust.

"Hopefully, we'll find that bratty princess." Navi flickered her aura in irritation. "I really don't feel like telling that king that his daughter died inside their deity fish."

"Yeah. We can't really say 'eaten alive' because we were 'eaten alive', too." Aya tapped her chin.

"At this point, it doesn't matter." Navi plopped herself down on Link's head.

"This place is gross." Kaori squeaked.

"Right." Navi said. "Anyways, let's get a move on."

"Onward, ahoy!" Link sang as he pointed his finger forward and began marching towards the door. Everyone followed, not looking forward to whatever was ahead of them.

**A/n:** There. Jabu-Jabu's belly was a very annoying dungeon, I thought. And I always did wonder. Why were their magical chests and dungeon maps and compasses inside of Jabu-Jabu, when he was a fish? And why were his insides as wide and big as a temple? Ah, the wonders of Zelda games.

Review!


	13. The Last Spiritual Stone

**A/n: **This chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer: **Okay.

**Chapter 13: The Last Spiritual Stone**

"Okay, I shouldn't ask this when we're in the digestive system of a giant fish, but _what_ is that?" Aya asked. She had a right to ask that question. When they past through the door, they were greeted to one of the oddest looking creatures they had seen on their journey yet. It was a purplish, slimy brain-like nucleus surrounded by an electrical barricade of Bari.

"Barinade." Navi analyzed. "It's the master of the Bari. It might be the source of all of Jabu-Jabu's problems."

"The fish had problems?" Joey asked.

"What, you think electrical jellyfish and giant octopi are common sights in the digestive track of a fish?" Navi asked.

"Okay, stupid question." Joey looked down.

"It's cool-looking." Link gawked. "I wish my brain looked like that."

"Whatever." Navi sighed. "Its weakness is its nucleus. You have to take out the Bari first. Just don't get electrocuted."

"Good advice." Aya shrugged her shoulders as she, along with everyone else, pulled out her weapon. Barinade was apparently agitated at the invaders in its chambers and it began to spin around, unleashing its shield of Bari to spin around it, attached by strings of electricity.

"Take out the Bari. Link, use the boomerang!" Navi ordered. The boy nodded at his partner's orders and he began disposing of the Bari as quickly as he could. The group stood off, waiting for Link to get rid of the jellyfish, and he did successfully, only getting a couple of small burns in the process. Kurama wasted no time and threw a rose, piercing the now-exposed nucleus.

"Now!" Joey called out and ran over once the nucleus crumpled over in pain. He, unintentionally, engulfed his sword in flames, slashing down on the monster with an infernal attack. Kaori shot off a few arrows and Katara slashed at it with her water whip. The nucleus got up and formed a new shield of Bari, shooting off electricity at the same time. The group got blown back by the electrical blast.

"Ow!" Kaori squeaked, getting back up to her feet with everyone else. Ignoring their injuries, the party repeated the same process as before, waiting for Link to dispose of the Bari. Link managed to get rid of all of them without getting burnt, and this time, Aya took the opportunity to stun the creature with a ball of light. The boys all jumped at the chance, Link throwing his boomerang to pierce the nucleus. Kurama rapidly slashed it with his whip while Joey used another fire-powered sword attack.

"How much longer do we have to do this?" Joey wiped some blood off of his face.

"Not much longer." Navi answered. "I can sense it getting weak." Barinade rose, creating more Bari and unleashing more attacks. Getting a feel for the creature's attack patterns, the party managed to dodge most of its electrical blasts while waiting for Link to get rid of the Bari. Once the jellyfish were gone, the party joined together, attacking the nucleus all at once. Finally, Barinade shrieked out in pain and began twitching and convulsing on the ground.

"Run." Navi said calmly and the party ran to other side of the room, narrowly avoiding getting splattered with guts as the monster exploded, revealing, in its place, a blue portal.

"Yay!" Link cheered. "The Evil Wood Overlords have been defeated. Now I can save the world and give everyone their right to make cherry pie back!"

"Link, shut up." Navi ordered and the boy's face dropped in sadness, but he complied. At that, the fairy flew off for a moment, confusing everyone. She came back with a pink fairy following her.

"Another fairy?" Kaori cocked her head.

"Healing fairies are scattered all over the place." Navi said. "Just sit still. This fairy will clear up all your wounds." The party did as they were told and the pink fairy flew around them. Pink sparkles fell from her wings, which closed up all the wounds the party had, fixing them up as good as new. After her work was done, the fairy flew away.

"Hey, Ruto is in the portal waiting for us." Aya pointed.

"Oh, joy. What I always wanted." Navi said, plopping back down on Link's head.

"You…You all are late!" Ruto stammered, her face bright red, blushing.

"I don't recall there being a time limit." Katara lifted an eyebrow.

"W-whatever…" Ruto trailed off before looking up, hesitantly. "But…I originally thought you all were just a bunch of idiots…But I….was wrong. Sorry."

"Wait…Run that by me one more time." Aya turned, about as surprised as everyone that the snobby princess was apologizing.

"I mean it." Ruto sounded more confident. "I watched that battle. You all were really cool!"

"Um…Thanks." Joey blinked, baffled. There was a flash of blue and the portal dumped the party in the water next to Jabu-Jabu.

"You all are really brave, aren't you?" Ruto had a mischievous glint in her eye. "I didn't know girls could fight like that. Cool!"

"Thanks." Aya shrugged in the water. Kaori and Katara nodded in thanks as well.

"But you!" Ruto swam over to Joey. "You were the coolest! You're really cute, too!"

"Wait…Are you sure you mean me?" Joey blushed.

"I mean you!" Ruto smiled. "The way you used that fire attack on the monster! And they you were so brave and valiant!"

"Um…" Joey was speechless as the princess floated closely to him.

"I'll give you a reward for saving me." Ruto said, smirking. "Anything. Just ask."

"…" Joey thought for a moment. "Your stone! That thing your mom gave you. I want that."

"My mother's stone?" Ruto pulled it out, staring at it. There was a moment of silence as she contemplated the request before her face grew excited. "This is a special stone in Zora culture. It's passed down from generation to generation of princesses. We're supposed to give it to our future spouse. You could call it the Zora's engagement ring."

"…" Joey's eyes grew wide. There was a snicker heard from Navi.

"I'll give it to you, Joey!" Ruto put the stone in Joey's hands. "You've promised me, though!" She turned to everyone. "I have to go tell my father what's happened. Thank you all so much. Bye everyone. Bye Joey!" Ruto playfully waved to the dumbfounded blond before running off.

"So wait…Joey's engaged to Ruto?" Aya looked up at Kurama for clarification.

"It would appear so." Kurama tapped his chin, a bit confused himself. "I certainly wasn't expecting that."

"Huh?" Link looked massively confused. "What's going on? What does engaged mean? Does it have something to do with tuna?"

"Link, no." Navi sighed loudly. "Just…no."

"Okay, I made a sacrifice for you all." Joey said, putting the sapphire in Link's small hands.

"What a little jerk." Katara looked off to the side. "She totally tricked Joey into that."

"Why are you upset?" Joey glanced over at Katara, who had her arms crossed in an annoyed fashion.

"Oh, somebody's jealous." Joey smirked playfully, nudging the girl lightly with his elbow.

"I am not!" Katara jabbed him with her elbow, causing him to yelp in pain, though her face was slightly red.

"I would love to see this argument develop further, but we need to go now!" Navi said.

"Now?" Link looked up.

"I have a bad feeling, that's all. Let's just get going." Navi responded. "We need to get these stones back to Zelda as soon as possible."

"I don't get that." Aya turned. "Are we just giving her the stones? Or what?"

"I don't even think Zelda knows." Navi said. "Let's just go." They made their way out of domain and began walking down the river.

"So, after we give the stones back, what do we do?" Aya asked as they walked.

"I'm not sure." Navi said. "I'm sure Zelda will tell you all what comes next.

"It all just seems too easy." Kurama placed his hands in his pockets casually.

"What do you mean?" Joey turned.

"Well, I'm not saying collecting the stones themselves was easy." Kurama corrected. "That was difficult. I'm just saying it seems too easy to simply go back and deliver them to her. Something is bound to go wrong."

"I don't like it when you say that." Joey sighed. "Something is definitely going to go wrong."

"My intuition has never failed me before." Kurama smiled.

"Yeah, and that's what scares me." the blond said wryly.

"I feel a lot stronger than I did before this journey started, though." Aya mused.

"Yeah, I know!" Kaori agreed, smiling.

"We are getting stronger, aren't we?" Katara tapped her chin.

"I had no idea I could shoot off fireballs, so yeah, I got stronger." Joey nodded in agreement.

"You all are acting like old friends now." Navi said, sitting on Link's head.

"We're like old people, then?" Link asked the blue fairy, blinking innocently.

"No." Navi responded dryly. "I don't mean that you're like old people."

"Oh. Okay. Because old people are crusty. And I think it would be fun to be crusty!" Link clapped his hands. "I'd be like a pie!"

"Link, shut up." Navi ordered and the boy bowed his head in defeat.

"Well, thinking about it." Joey looked off to the side. "I surprised myself by how angry I got when that stupid monster knocked Kurama out."

"You were really angry." Katara agreed.

"It could just be that we all are getting closer than we realized." Kurama nodded his head.

"Well, that's good." Navi said. "Because my bad feeling is telling me friendship might be the best thing you all are going to have in a minute." Ending the conversation there, the party made there way out of the river and began a mad dash toward Hyrule Castle Town.

"Why is it storming?" Katara looked up at the skies. Storms were rolling in from the opposite side of the landscape. While it had been clear near Zora's Domain, ominous, black storm clouds were floating slowly over the castle town, attacking the land below ice cold rain and piercing flashes of lightning.

"It wasn't stormy near the domain!" Kaori blinked, sensing the worry in everyone's tone.

"It rarely ever thunderstorms heavily like this in Hyrule." Navi said. "Rain every once in awhile is inevitable. And the worst storms come during the rainy season and we're in the dry season right now!"

"Okay, something screwed up here." Joey declared as they ran closer to the town. They skidded to a stop when the found the drawbridge up.

"It's still daytime, right?" Katara looked up at Navi.

"Yeah, it's supposed to be." Navi seemed heavily concerned.

"I see smoke rising from parts of the castle town." Kurama said, his voice completely serious. He pointed, and everyone followed his line of sight and gasped when they saw the redhead was right. Clouds of dark grey smoke rose seemed to blend in with the storm clouds.

"What's happening?" Kaori gasped in horror, stepping back in shock.

"What the hell?" Aya blinked. They were all snapped from their surprised stupors when the drawbridge came slamming down, making a loud crashing sound from the impact.

"Move to the side!" Navi ordered and the party jumped to the side. A white horse came galloping by as fast as it physically go, with a serious Impa clutching a terrified Zelda in her arms on top of it.

"Zelda and Impa?" Joey asked in surprise. Zelda began to struggle in Impa's arms, finally turning herself around long enough to throw something with all her feeble might, which landed in the moat. She gave one final horrified glance at the party as the white horse disappeared in the distance.

"Ahh!" Link screamed, getting blasted back all of a sudden. While they watched Zelda ride away, a black horse had ridden up next to them, with Ganondorf riding atop of it. His hand was flickering with magic as he charged another blast.

"You all were watching that white horse go by weren't you?" Ganondorf said snappily. "Tell me where she was going and I won't have to hurt any of you."

"…" the group collectively remained silent, deciding that protecting Zelda's whereabouts was more important at the moment.

"You all think you're pretty brave aren't you, keeping silent like that." Ganondorf snickered.

"We're obviously doing a damn fine job of not telling you where the horse went, now aren't we?" Navi snapped at the man, her aura flickering.

"Hm…" Ganondorf just sneered. "A useless fairy like you has no right to speak to me!" He blasted her out of the air and she fell into Link's hands, dazed.

"Navi!" Link called out, still on the ground from where Ganondorf fired at him. "I hate you! You shouldn't hurt people like that!"

"I have no use for the naïve blabbering of some idiot kid." Ganondorf sneered. "Children are one thing I loathe in this world. They're so optimistic and pure. It disgusts me how useless they are. You brats are no different."

"Brats?" Katara seemed offended. "What kind of mature adult attacks children?"

"I don't need a lesson from you." Ganondorf said. His yellow eyes scanned over the party, analyzing them. Link was still on the ground cradling the dazed Navi in his hands, Joey was glaring at him as was Katara, Aya was silent and unsure of how to react in the situation, Kaori looked terrified and Kurama looked as indifferent as always. "You all are brats, but you're interesting brats, I'll give you that much."

"You…" Joey was cut off when Katara grabbed his arm, gripping it tightly.

"Just for intriguing me, I'll let you all go." Ganondorf said. "I have more important things to do than just dealing with you monsters, anyway." Ganondorf charged another electrical blast in his palm and blasted the entire party, knocking everyone down. With that, he ran off into the distance.

"That bastard!" Joey seethed, sitting up. "He calls us monsters?"

"There's no point in working ourselves up over it." Kurama brushed himself off. "There's no way we could do anything in the first place. He's simply too powerful for us right now."

"Kurama has a point." Navi sat up, apparently recovered. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah." Aya answered, rubbing her head. "Shocked and confused, but in one piece."

"I feel that we are in a time limit." Kurama said. "Someone should dive into the moat and get what Zelda threw to us."

"Link!" Navi ordered. Link nodded and jumped into the river and came out with a leather pouch.

"What's inside?" Kaori asked, poking her head over Link's shoulder. Kneeling down in a circle, Link dumped the contents of the pouch carefully to the wet ground. It was a small, delicate, pale-blue ocarina with intricate designs and gold Triforce emblem near the mouthpiece, and a set of five pendants, each simple but beautiful and individually color coded with gems of red, blue, green, yellow and purple. Before they could comprehend what was going on, white filled their vision.

"_Link, everyone, it's me, Zelda. If you are holding these items in your hands, if you are reading this letter, it means that I will no longer be around. I waited for you all as long as I could, but Ganondorf stormed the city and attacked the castle! He killed my father and slaughtered many guards! Impa and I barely managed to escape ourselves._

_Link, I entrust this ocarina to you. This is the Ocarina of Time, an ancient family heirloom. I know you will take good care of it, given your pure heart. This ocarina is the final key to the Sacred Realm. _

_Before I get on to the rest, these pendants belong specifically to those who are deemed the 'Spirits' by the Goddesses- those whose hearts are strong and contain the fire of an element within. I cannot elaborate upon what the Spirits are right now other than that they are referred to as 'Guardians' in the legends. You all are here for a very specific reason. I promise you that you will no soon enough._

_Now, listen carefully to what I say now. The Ocarina of Time and the Spiritual Stones I had you collect are the keys to the Door of Time- the passage to the Sacred Realm. To activate this power, you must know this song, Link, the Song of Time. I have written the notes down on this note._

_I'm sorry, everyone. I am with you in spirit. I place my deepest trust in you. I swear to the Goddesses that we will meet again some day…"_

Everyone's visions cleared and they sat on the ground, dumbfounded. The storm still raged around them, and they sat on the wet grass, the cold rain pelting them like needles, the thunder booming loudly. Not even the piercing crash of lightning snapped them out of their shock-induced stupors.

"Is everyone okay?" Navi was the first to speak.

"I'm…fine." Katara nodded. "Just shocked." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"So, let me get this straight." Aya tried to sort out her thoughts. "Ganondorf raid the city, killed the King, almost killed the princess, slaughtered guards and presumably set fire to the city. She gave us an ancient family heirloom and we're apparently important figures called 'Spirits'."

"Pretty much." Navi said.

"Why us?" Katara asked.

"I'm not sure." Kurama stood up. "I highly doubt now is the time to think about that, anyways."

"Which isn't very fair." Joey stood up. "It's been one thing after the other! We don't even know what these 'Spirits' are, and yet she wants us to just accept that?"

"I don't think she's asking us to accept anything." Kurama answered sternly. "Seeing as how her kingdom was being attacked and her father was brutally murdered, by the sounds of it, before her and that she herself barely escaped with her own life, I assume that she had barely any time to construct that message."

"I guess you're right…but…" Joey calmed down a bit, getting over the shock.

"He's right." Link stood up, flicking some of his wet bangs out of the way. "We're together, right? We'll figure everything out because we're together!"

"You're optimism is ridiculous, but contagious." Aya stood up.

"Well, Zelda didn't say where to go." Kaori said.

"She probably forgot that minor detail or assumed I knew it." Navi said. "The Temple of Time is where we're supposed to go. It's located in the back of Hyrule Castle Town."

"Temple of Time?" Joey asked.

"Yep. Rundown temple that rarely gets visited." Navi explained bluntly. "Let's go! We don't have much time!" The party nodded, and despite the fact that they were soaking wet, confused and downright miserable at the moment, they ran across the drawbridge and into the distressed city. Its cheerful air had been replaced by the putrid smell of burnt buildings and the sounds of screaming children. It was pandemonium. The rain had doused out most of the flames, but shops and houses had been decimated, and the broken bodies of guards were scattered around like trashed dolls. The confusion in the air was almost visible as people ran around with their children in their arms. Before Link could get a glimpse of it, Kurama gently placed his hands over his eyes.

"What?" Link asked.

"Just let me do this until we get to the Temple of Time, alright?" Kurama asked.

"Whatever you say, Kurama!" Link nodded. He was naïve and innocent and everyone knew the sheltered boy wouldn't handle such carnage well, even though he could smell burnt scent of houses as it carried in the wild winds of the storm.

"This is awful!" Kaori seemed horrified, staring as people mourned over the remains of their homes and as they tried to find their relatives and pets, trying to grab what they could to escape the burnt chaos of what was once a happy city to live in. Aya grabbed her friends arm and began running through the square, deciding it best to limit the innocent girl's exposure to the scene. Following through, the party ran, almost completely unnoticed by the shocked townspeople as they made their way to the Temple of Time.

"Okay." Kurama released Link's vision and they walked into the building. It was as empty on the inside as it looked on the outside. It was cold on the inside of the temple, and a breeze from the outside blew in from the poorly-kept wooden doors. The grayish stone building was simply designed on the inside. It had a checkered floor with a large platform in the middle with an intricate design on it, large windows on the sides and a red carpet to dry your feet on at the entrance. They made their way over to a pedestal on the other side of the room, with what looked like a large stone door behind it.

"Link, pull out the stones." Navi ordered and the boy did so, pulling out the three stones. Upon the fairy's command, he placed them gently (as gently as Link could) on their hollows in the pedestal.

"So, I play that song, right?" Link asked and Navi nodded. He took one glance at the notes on the parchment and played the solemn song flawlessly. It was a slow song that could almost be described as mournful as its long notes flowed together and echoed off the empty stone walls. The song ended and there was rumbling as the stone door began to slide open.

"Okay, you all ready?" Navi turned. "The so-called door the Sacred Realm just opened."

"I'm scared, actually." Kaori tapped the toe of her shoe against the ground nervously. "Though, I'm not sure what the think anymore."

"Come on!" Link grabbed her hand, causing her face to brighten to a pink shade in shock. "I said we're together! So everything will be fine!" Still holding Kaori's hand, he dashed through the door, the rest of the party following him. Once inside, the room they entered was brightly lit, despite the raging, black storms outside. In the center of the room, past some steps, was a pedestal with a sword firmly stuck inside of it. The sword was beautiful one with a navy blue handle and the intricately designed emblem of the Triforce on the hilt.

"That's…" Navi trailed off. "The evil slaying sword! That's the Master Sword! It's all over legends! It's a pure sword of evil's bane! That's it! It really exists!"

"The Master Sword?" Kaori questioned.

"Yeah! I've heard about it." Navi said.

"You should try pulling it out." Joey turned to Link, who blinked up at the older blond in confusion. "I mean, we've come this far, right?"

"Help me!" Link turned to his friends. "I don't want to pull it out myself."

"Well, I don't just want to stand here and look pretty." Aya said sarcastically. The party walked over to the sword and stared at it for a moment. It the sword was almost as tall as Link and he stood up on the pedestal and put his hands on the handle, gripping it firmly. Joey smirked and put his hands on top of Link's, and one-bye-one, everyone was gripping the sword.

"If you all don't pull this up, you suck." Navi said, sitting on Link's head. In unison, the party all began to pull, and to their surprise, the sword effortlessly slid out of the stone pedestal. A metallic blue light erupted from all sides of them, encircling them, and it began to close in on them. The blue light engulfed their vision and they began to black out, but not before they heard a voice.

"_Thanks, you brats! I'm glad I spared you. I got exactly what I wanted!" _

**A/n**: That was longer than I expected. Oh well.

I decided to eliminate some of the humor in this chapter. It's hard to find humor when a town has been decimated, people have been murdered, a king has been slaughtered and an evil overlord is chasing your princess and the kingdom that was once peaceful has been thrown into complete and utter chaos. So…It's understandable that I made it a little more serious, right?

Review, please!


	14. It's Time to Wake Up

**A/n: **This chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer: **Cheese.

**Chapter 14: It's Time to Wake Up**

"Hero of Time! It is time to wake up."

"My mommy said…eating…snakes…are like…eating….wood…"

"Hero of Time! It is time for you wake up!"

"Wood….Do…you….give…birth to it?"

"Come on! The time has come for you to wake up!"

"Saria…Your…voice is….deeper…than…yesterday…"

"Oh, for the love of Nayru…"

Link tried to open his eyes, but he found the task to be comparable to something very difficult. His mind was too hazy to come up with a good comparison, so he settled with that. His eyelids felt like stone, and his limbs felt like limp noodles at his sides. His vision was hazy at the moment and all he could make out was a colorful blur standing before him, snapping at him to wake up. Suddenly, a bonk to the head made the process of waking up much faster.

"Link! You idiot! Wake up!" Navi's annoyed voice pierced the hero's skull and his vision cleared up to see where his disgruntled companion was. She was floating next to him, her blue aura flashing in annoyance. He looked around him and noticed that he was standing on a platform surrounded by other platforms in a sea of blue nothingness.

"Holy Din!" Link exclaimed, throwing his arms up almost losing his balance. "Wait…Why do I sound different? Wait…Who are you? Did I die?"

"Settle down, Hero of Time." the old man standing before him on yellow platform, dressed in red priest robes, reassured. "I am Rauru. I am your ally, one of the ancient Sages."

"Oh! You're old! Does that mean you feel like pie?" Link asked, completely forgetting the fact that he sounded different. Navi slapped him in the back of the head and he yelped. "What's going on?"

"All will be explained in due time, Hero." Rauru explained. "Five years ago, you and your friends opened the door to the Sacred Realm and pulled out the Master Sword from its stone. By doing so, your souls were locked in the Sacred Realm because none of you were old enough to become true warriors."

"Huh?" Link's eyes were wide.

"It's true!" Rauru reassured, gesturing down the blue nothingness, which turned out to be sparkling water of some sort, with his robed arm. "Don't be so alarmed, young man! Look at yourself!"

"Huh…Ah!" Link screamed in surprise at the person staring back at him in the water. Rauru was correct, he no longer was a child anymore and Link didn't need to be a genius to figure that out. He wasn't the tallest person in the world, but skinny arms and baby fat had disappeared and his body was now carved with visible muscle-the fit stature of someone who was athletic. His once-rounded child's face had curved and narrowed into the face of an adult, and while his sky-blue eyes had narrowed too, they still held the innocent gleam of a naïve child. He still wore his green tunic, now grown to fit his new body, and underneath it, he wore a tight white suit. His boots weren't so big and awkward looking and he wore brown, leather gauntlets on his hands. His hat still completed the outfit, but his blond bangs were now longer and more layered. He even had a silver hoop earring on one ear.

"Well, you're certainly not a kid anymore." Navi declared, sitting on his head. "There's quite a view from here, kiddo."

"Navi!" Link seemed to have just now comprehended her existence as he tried to soak in all the other details. "Where is everyone else? Are they okay?"

"We're right behind you, dude." Joey's deeper voice alerted Link and he clumsily spun around, still trying to get used to his new height. His eyes widened at everyone, now adults, standing behind him on platforms.

"You all are so different now!" Link declared cheerfully, looking over each of his friends.

Kaori hadn't grown very much, since she was the shortest and most petite of the bunch. She had a slim figure without many curves, and she had sun kissed skin. She was still quite pretty though, almost cute in a girlish, coy way, with her narrow face and stormy-grey eyes that seemed to now have hints of light blue. Her delicate face and small nose was almost like that of a noble's daughter. Her dark hair was curlier and longer, but it was still pulled back in a ponytail, held back with a purple ribbon. Her outfit was simple, as expected of Kaori, with a lavender, sleeveless top, laced on the ends, with a dark purple jacket over it, tied at the top with a ribbon, which had short sleeves. She wore blue pants and dark purple boots that went to her knees. She had purple earrings in her ears, a ribbon belt around her waist and purple gloves.

Joey had shot up in some sort of belated growth-spurt, as he now towered over the rest of the party by a good foot, and his muscles had grown too to compensate. His face had matured into that of a grown man, and his blond hair had grown out into a layered, messy-sort of look with bangs that fell into his amber eyes. He wore a long, black jacket that went to his knees that was red at the cuffs and collar. It was completely unbuttoned to reveal a simple red shirt underneath. He had on black pants and black boots trimmed with red buttons. He wore red, fingerless gloves and a couple of belts, one of which wrapped around his leg with a storage pack buttoned to it.

Kurama had grown a few inches taller, but not enough to make a glaring difference, and, while he looked mature before, his facial feature reflected the change. His face lost the feminine qualities they had before, but he remained attractive, almost beautiful, in the way his face was flawless. His hair had grown a little longer to compensate the growth, and it seemed to have darkened just a shade. He wore a green jacket that was light green at the cuffs that was a little longer than the average jacket, and underneath that, a light green button-up shirt that was unbuttoned to the chest. He wore slim-fitting, dark green pants and brown boots in a casual style. The only accessory he had was a brown belt around his waist.

Aya retained something of a natural beauty as an adult, having grown taller by a couple of inches and developing a curvy, hourglass figure. Her face held a natural, unblemished kind of prettiness to it, in the soft features of her face, with her chocolate brown eyes more noticeable than before. Her hair had also grown out as well, flowing down to her lower back. She wore a black, sleeveless dress that went to her knees with a skirt that was flowing. It was lined with yellow on ends, near the top and bottom, and she wore a short sleeved, black jacket-shirt, that was semi-transparent. She wore black boots that were yellow around the ankles that went up past her skirt and two long black dress-like gloves, with several yellow bangle bracelet on her left wrist. She had a yellow belt around her waist and a black choker necklace as well.

Katara was beautiful in an exotic way, her skin still a tanned color. She had grown to the same height as Aya, and she was curvy and athletic-looking at the same time. Her clear bleu eyes were still noticeable, and her face had only narrowed a bit to seem more adult and feminine. Probably for convenience's sake, her hair was no longer done in the elaborate, tribal braid of before, but instead was a simple braid, which kept her long, upper-leg length hair in check, which was tied with a simple blue hair-tie, though, two tendrils of hair still hung on either side, holding the silver beads leftover from her previous hairdo. She wore an off-the-shoulders blue and white top that was midriff-baring, but not really revealing, still modest in its own right. She wore a long, blue skirt with a long slit up the left side, revealing her dark blue and white boots that went to a little above her knee. She had white belt around her waist that wrapped a second time around her knee, and had a storage pack buckled to it. She wore two dark blue gloves with white plating on the knuckles, and her black choker necklace with the silver pendant from before.

"Wow!" Link clapped his hands childishly, which slightly clashed with his adult appearance. "You all look so cool!"

"It's nice to see that he's pretty much the same." Kurama said pleasantly, putting his hands in his pockets in the same casual gesture.

"Does this mean I can say cool words like damn?" Link asked Navi. "Because I remember Joey saying cool things like that. Does that make me man?"

"Yep, buddy. Real men cuss." Joey seemed proud.

"Quit tainting him more with your stupidity!" Katara snapped.

"Just because you're older and hot now doesn't mean I'm going to listen to you." Joey looked off to the side.

"I don't know whether to be flattered or grossed out." Katara crossed her arms.

"It's nice to know that after five years in slumber, those two still argue." Navi said.

"Anyways." Rauru interrupted their greetings. "I have some things to explain to you all. You see, five years ago, you six, as children, opened the door of time and pulled out the Master Sword."

"Alright, I understand that much." Aya nodded. "What happened after that?"

"Though you opened the door in the name of peace, Ganondorf was able to enter the Sacred Realm as you all fell into slumber and he seized a piece of the Triforce." Rauru's voice was solemn. "In the time you all have been sleeping, growing and awaiting the day you would become adults worthy of the hero title, Hyrule has become overrun with evil. It has become a shadow of its former glory."

"What?" Joey practically fell of his pedestal.

"I speak the truth." Rauru seemed sad. "The people are terrified and monsters roam the landscape. It is a stormy, dark place."

"That's horrible." Katara looked down.

"We are currently in the Chamber of Sages, in the Temple of Light, in the center of the Sacred Realm." Rauru explained. "This is the safest place from Ganondorf. My powers have been enough to protect the place, and your bodies, as the last stronghold against Ganondorf's evil powers."

"Wow." Joey looked off to side. "You said you were a Sage, right? What are those?"

"The Sages are guardians of the land of Hyrule, in legend." Rauru answered. "The powers of the Sages can be unlocked in their respective temples, but Ganondorf has cursed the five temples in Hyrule, preventing the Sages from hearing their awakening call."

"Go figure." Aya said sarcastically.

"I am already awakened as the Sage of Light, since my temple is not cursed." Rauru said. "Please take this medallion as a symbol of my power, as a token of our alliance!" Rauru held out his hand a glowing, gold medallion rose from his hands and landed in Link's hands. "When you awaken a Sage, you'll receive a medallion, like this one, symbolizing your alliance with that Sage."

"Wait." Joey called out, halting the sage's movements. "What about us? What are the Spirits? Don't we have a right to know?"

"Oh, yes. That." Rauru coughed a bit." The Spirits are the elemental guardians of the Sacred Realm who accompany the Hero of Time on his journey, protecting him. You could say that you all are the hearts of the elements themselves, if that makes any sense."

"So, while you all guard Hyrule, we guard the Sacred Realm?" Aya confirmed. "So, it's this never ending loop of protection then, right? Because we protect you and vice versa."

"Precisely." Rauru nodded. "You all, including Link, were chosen by the Goddesses themselves. The Hero of Time and the Spirits, destined to rescue this land in its darkest hour."

"Sounds pretty spiffy to me." Aya crossed her arms. "I like that title. Spirit of Light."

"Actually, now that I have explained this to you, you should all take these back now." Rauru made a motion, and the five pendants appeared in front of the rest of the party. They took them, staring at the colored gems. "These pendants belong the Spirits. Wear them with pride!"

"Um…Okay." Joey blinked, placing the pendant around his neck with the other Spirits.

"Well then. Off you go!" Rauru snapped and the party landed gracelessly on the stone floor of the Temple of Time, lying next to pedestal the Master Sword was in.

"Anyone else feel like only a few minutes have gone by?" Joey asked, standing up with everyone else.

"Naps are good like that." Link said stupidly.

"I guess you can give Link a hot, adult body but he'll still be a ditzy child on the inside." Navi said, sitting back on the hero's head.

"Hot? Like cupcakes?" Link asked.

"Link, seriously. Shut up." Navi said. "I don't know if I can take you seriously now."

"Huh?" Link's eyes were wide with confusion.

"I have been waiting for you all for a long time." a voice snapped everyone out of their thoughts and they turned to see a shadowed figure in the corner.

"Have the cow demons come back for revenge?" Link whipped out the Master Sword. "They can have my milk and my wife, just don't take my pancreas!"

"…" Everyone, including the shadowed figure, just remained silent.

"Does Link even know what a pancreas is?" Aya turned.

"Probably not." Kaori squeaked, smiling a bit in exasperation.

"Right." the figure stepped into the light. The figure was androgynous, at best, being long and slim, like a female, but having some muscular building the arms, shoulders, and legs, like a male. His voice was deep, like a man's, so it was a _he_, but he had some shapely, delicate features like a woman. He mostly covered up, though, with a white scarf wrapped around his neck and face, covering the lower half of his face and shoulders, with bandages wrapped around everything his tight, blue body suit didn't. He had a white, bandage-like hat on his head, and messy blond hair covered the right half of his face, obscuring his identity more. All that was noticeable was red, garnet colored eye staring at them.

"Who are you?" Joey narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Kurama obviously sensed nothing bad about the man, as he was calming Link down and telling him to sheath his weapon.

"I am Sheik." Sheik explained, walking closer to them. "I am the one of the last of the Sheikah race, and I am an agent of the Sages, sent to aid you."

"Sweet." Aya said. "Because we have no idea what we're doing right now."

"We don't?" Link turned.

"Seeing as how the old man didn't give us a destination, yeah, we're clueless." Aya retorted.

"It really doesn't make much sense for him to not tell us what to do when we're supposed to save the world." Katara agreed.

"I assume that's what Sheik's job is." Kurama turned to the man, who nodded his head.

"There are five temples hidden in this land." Sheik began cryptically. "One in a deep forest, one in a volcano, one in a vast lake, one in the house of the dead and one inside the goddess of the sand."

"Huh?" Link's eyes were wide again in confusion. Clearly, the cryptic riddle went over his head.

"House of the Dead sounds like loads of fun." Navi said wryly.

"Dead?" Kaori's eyes widened in shock.

"Don't worry about it now." Katara pat the girl on shoulder, smiling.

"That is a legend passed down among my people." Sheik confirmed. "The first temple is a place you've all seen before and know well, the Sacred Forest Meadow. The first sage is a girl you all know."

"Okay. We need to go the Lost Woods then." Navi confirmed.

"However, you are unable to enter the temple as ill-equipped as you are." Sheik said. "You need to find a special device that will allow you to access the temple's entrance. You will find this item in the graveyard in Kakariko Village?"

"Are we pillaging graves like those muscular guys in the pointy hats that I read about in a storybook?" Link asked Sheik like an eager child.

"Not in the right sense." Sheik answered, brushing some hair out of his visible eye. "I wish you all luck. We will meet again." Sheik stepped back and threw down a Deku Nut, disappearing in a flash.

"Okay. He was odd." Aya blinked.

"Are we sure he was a he?" Joey turned. "Did he even have a gender? I didn't notice any boy or girl parts."

"You actually looked?" Katara lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, I was curious. And I wasn't the only one who was, so back off!" Joey declared.

"Let's get out of this stuffy temple before the land become more overrun with evil than it already has." Navi urged, preventing another argument from breaking out. The party complied and left the temple, entering what the guessed used to be Hyrule Castle Town. It was horrifying, to say the least. The burnt remnants of buildings lied scattered haphazardly around the broken square. Some skeletons of old soldiers, they guessed, were thrown like broken, mismatched toys, all over the place. The sky was an ugly, tan color and a black castle stood in the distance in place of majestic Hyrule Castle. Walking around in the citizens' places were ReDeads, who moaned lifelessly in the square.

"Let's get out of here." Navi ordered, taking now time wasted in shooing the group out of the ruined town. They managed to make it out of the town without much incident and walked far enough away from it to feel sunshine in the field again.

"The sun is a welcome change from before." Aya smiled, looking up at the sky. "Before we were put to sleep, we were soaking wet from being out in that storm. And the temple was really cold before, too."

"Yeah, it's really nice to be out in the sunshine again." Katara agreed.

"I'm glad. It was really scary before." Kaori looked down. "At least the field is still pretty."

"For the most part, yeah." Navi agreed.

"Thing weren't looking well the day we disappeared." Kurama said. "People were fleeing the city when we left, so I assume most of the townspeople made it out in one piece."

"I'm glad." Aya sighed. "But if Ganondorf did that to the biggest city in the land, what did he do to everything else?"

"What do you mean?" Kaori turned, a bit urgent.

"I mean, he decimated an entire city." Aya turned. "In one day, that man single-handedly overthrew the royal family. If he did that to Hyrule Castle Town, what did he do the ranch?"

"And the forest, for the matter." Navi said, worriedly. "Or the Gorons. And the Zoras."

"I have a feeling he wreaked havoc everywhere." Kurama nodded his head. "The best we can do is help these places out one at a time."

"I am worried about the ranch, though." Katara turned.

"The things! And the chick!" Link exclaimed in his own, worried way. "What happened to the thing and the chick?"

"I don't know how well Malon would fare against the evil manipulation of Ganondorf." Navi said. "Should we go check up on Malon before we go to the village?"

"I want to see if she's okay." Link said worriedly. "She had nifty things! And she taught me the nifty song!" With Link's somewhat incoherent declaration said, the newly grown party made their way to the ranch.

**A/n**: Yay. Adults. Wee. I did keep the whole five-years thing, for those who don't know, because it works out better for the ages of all the characters if it's five instead of seven. Since I aged child Link up from ten to twelve, he's still the same age as he his in the game.

Review, please.


	15. Saving the Ranch

**A/n: **IS THAT GASPING AND HEART ATTACKS I HEAR FROM YOUR INVISIBLE AUDIENCE? I KNOW RIGHT? AN UPDATE ZOMG.

On that note, this chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer:** Yellow.

**Chapter 15: Saving the Ranch **

"Yay!" Link threw his arms into the air. The entire country seemed to have this fog of despair over it, but Link's enthusiasm was still there, clear as day. The rest of the party had pretty much come to the conclusion the young man was impossible to upset or deter, an admirable trait in its own right, even if it did make him _ever so slightly_ impulsive. "I love the fresh air!"

"The world is dying and he's acting like we're taking a vacation." Navi stated dryly, fluttering alongside her partner. Her exasperation at her ward's dopey grin was apparent around her, though everyone was used to the fairy's grumpy demeanor. They continued in something of a thoughtful silence through the wide, open fields.

"I feel like so much has happened and we haven't even gotten a chance to think about it." Katara mused, twirling a few strands of hair with her finger.

"Once we find out what happened at the ranch, we can probably stop to consider our situation at the village." Kurama said reasonably. "At the moment, I think its best we place the ranch's safety first." Katara nodded, followed by everyone else and made their way back down to the ranch, noise only brought by Link's humming (no one really know what he was singing, and no one wanted to know."

After a little while of humming and Navi holding back the urge to kill the person humming, they arrived at the entrance to the ranch. The skies were cloudy to begin with, but the clouds were darker, more ominous, over the normally peaceful ranch. The entrance was locked, the rusty gate shut and barring entry, but Kurama was able to gently pick the lock, and he and Joey opened the somewhat rusty gate quietly and carefully.

"Why was the ranch gate shut?" Aya whispered as they darted behind some large crates of milk.

"Sneaking around really ain't my thing." Joey crouched down. Everyone was having a pretty easy time darting to and fro and hiding behind crates except him. His newfound height and bulk made it rather difficult to be stealthy. "Owwwww." Joey whined.

"Oh, shush." Katara scolded the young man, jerking him down to the ground completely, earning a muffled slew of curses.

"Save your couple's spat for when we _aren't_ trying to hide." Aya muttered sarcastically. Katara looked off to the side, not responding and Joey was too busy cursing at Katara to even notice the off-handed remark.

"What time is it anyways?" Kaori asked innocently, her hand placed firmly over Link's mouth to keep him from catching attention.

"I'm not entirely sure." Kurama tapped his chin. "We really weren't informed of the time or date when Rauru and Sheik threw this job at us. I'm on the assumption it's the same day, since it's exactly five years later. However, if that's the case, the day is almost ending because it was late afternoon when we went to the temple and got the Master Sword."

"What Red said." Navi said, plopping down lazily on Link's head.

"Thanks for informing us of the time sooner." Joey rolled his eyes. He was still lying on the ground completely, but was propped up by the elbows. "You're the best guide a group of heroes could ask for."

"I try." the fairy responded, her tone just as dry.

"Mumphfumfffomfummmphuf?" Link tried to speak but realized he was effectively gagged by Kaori. His blue eyes were kind of puppy-like and defeated.

"We're not letting you talk." Navi scolded. "For good reason, too." The boy just made a muffled squeak of protest. On that note, the party darted up forward with all the quiet stealth they could muster, and stopped near the horse corral. Pacing back and forth in front of the horse corral was a skinny, wimpy looking man. His face was covered by brown whisker, his mustache so big the thin line of his chapped mouth was barely noticeable. He was dressed fancily, over the top and gaudy in an unappealing mix of bright, mint green and pink with a large, frilly lace collar and white tights and black flat shoes. The clothes hung on his lanky, unfit form, and did nothing to hide his glaring lack of muscle. In some ways, his skin seemed loose and hung on his form, his head balding and his eyes squinty in a glare of sorts. If there was one word to describe the man besides unpleasant, it might have been sick or unwell.

"MUMFUFMFUFMFF." Link whispered loudly, prying his mouth out of Kaori's grip to exclaim (as quietly as the energetic young man could get) dramatically. "Isn't that scary man that was in the one place that smelled weird?"

"…" Kurama thought for a moment. It was clear he knew who the man was (this was Kurama after all), but his moment of silence seemed to contemplate something else. "Ingo, I believe his name was."

"Oh!" Kaori placed a hand over her mouth, her grey eyes taking a closer look at the man pacing in the distance. "The ranch hand? We barely talked to him last time we were here. All I remember about him was that he was rather…unpleasant."

"A jerkass, you mean?" Joey elaborated. "All he did when we talked to him was complain about his job."

"So, that's' the grumpy guy?" Aya lifted an eyebrow. "What's he doing in that awful attire?"

"I'm not even going to try and figure that out." Kurama sighed loudly.

"Where's Malon and Talon, though?" Katara asked looking around for any signs of their friends.

"I don't know, but none of those horses look happy." Joey pointed. "I don't have to a horse whisperer to figure that out."

"What's a horse whisperer?" Link looked up at the older blond. "Is it like a game? A cool game that involves cups and buttered rolls? BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE AMAZING."

"No. Link, shut up." Navi declared and the party snuck back a bit. Deciding it was top priority to find their friends first, they started looking around. Outside, there was no visible sign of the father and daughter pair. They then quietly opened the door to the stable. Inside, they heard the quiet mooing of the ranch's world famous cows, but their cries seemed more upset and disturbed than anything else. The stable, aside from that, was eerily quiet. Nothing but some hay strewn across the floor and some shovels and pitchforks lying unwanted on the floor.

"Malon? Talon?" Katara called out. "Where are you?" Blue eyes narrowing in worry, she turned back to her group, a hand on her hip.

"They can't have just vanished, unless they're not on the ranch anymore." Aya sighed, turning as well.

"But! This is their place!" Link looked taken aback at the idea that the pair could have been kicked off of their own ranch, his eyes wide with genuine concern. "Epona was still here! Malon wouldn't leave Epona, right? Epona was her favorite horse!"

"No, I can't see her doing that." Kaori's eyes softened a bit. Link was a moron, no one would deny, but he was thoughtful. That kind nature was clear as he remembered little details, like their friend's favorite horse.

"You grew attached to that horse when we visited." Kurama laughed a bit. "It was a sweet horse, though." Kurama walked further into the stable, his boots making light taps against the creaky wood floor.

"There's nothing in here but cows, Kurama." Joey took a few steps forward, following the redhead. "Why are you going in further?"

"Because that's not the only thing in here, I'm sure." Kurama said casually. Navi flew further up ahead, seeming to follow the redhead's line of sight. She stopped in front of a thick wooden door. It was worn out, but strong looking, with a few cracks but not much else.

"Big guy! Open this door!" Navi commanded.

"Whyyyyy?" Joey said in a whiny voice, earning an elbow to the ribs by Katara.

"Don't be a lazy bastard and open this door!" Navi said in a somewhat serious tone and Joey finally took her seriously. He went over and fiddled with the door for a few long seconds, still trying to get used to his newfound strength. After a moment, the door budged and he pulled it open, Link jumping in to help him pull it all the way open. The party froze at what they saw. Lying, unconscious, on a pile of dirty hay and farm supplies was Malon. She was tied up well, her arms pinned down behind her, her ankles tied together. The ropes looked so tight that they seemed to leave little room for movement, let alone breathing. A dirty, nasty looking rag was tied around her mouth firmly with another around her eyes. Her beautiful red hair was unkempt, strewn out around her. She was dressed in a simple white nightgown, as if she was taken in the middle of the night, and she was barefooted. She shivered a bit at the cold in her sleep, a muffled moan of discomfort escaping from behind the rag in her fitful rest.

"What the hell?" Aya exclaimed, darting forward with the other two girls. Link gently pulled the girl out of the storage closet. He pulled off the blindfold and gag and Joey made short work of the ropes, using his fire to burn them off carefully.

"If Malon is like this, where is Talon?" Kaori asked worriedly. "Did Ingo really do all of this?"

"I'm not entirely sure…" Navi trailed off. Even the grumpy fairy felt pity for the poor girl. She looked so uncomfortable and dirty.

"Let's worry about that later." Kurama stood up. "Let's go to the house and clean Malon up. Her safety is more important right now." The party nodded, the look on Link's face, while still innocent and childish, indicated he had entered "serious business" mode. Joey picked the girl up bridal style and they snuck into the house, taking Malon up to a room and placing her on her bed.

"What do we do?" Kaori asked worriedly, gently opening the room's window and letting the early evening breeze bring some freshness into the dusty room.

"Deal with Ingo!" Link declared angrily.

"Talon is nowhere to be found. Perhaps when she's awake and comfortable, she can shed some light on the situation." Katara said, sitting down at the foot of the bed. "But, for once, I'm with Link. We need to deal with Ingo."

"We clearly weren't allowed in here if the gates were shut." Kurama tapped his chin in his usual gesture before placing his hands in his pockets. "I'll follow whatever you do, Link. You are our leader, after all." Link smiled a wide grin, clearly thrilled at being the acknowledged leader and he twirled clumsily around on one foot, waving his arms around to keep balance. "Let's go deal with Ingo! I don't how but it has to be awesome!"

"Alright, sounds cool to me." Joey cracked his knuckles. Kurama nodded and turned towards the girls.

"Would you all be willing to stay here with Malon?" he asked politely.

"Of course." Aya nodded. "We'll get her cleaned up and everything. Go deal with that weirdo, okay?"

The three guys plus Navi made their way out of the house and snuck back around to the horse corral, where the man still paced, not even noticing the prescence of anyone around him. It was clear by the way he paced in a crooked line that he wasn't thinking straight and it was made more obvious by the fact that he seemed to blink a lot. As they got a closer look, his beady eyes were tired looking and glassed over, a dull shade of black. His hands were behinds his back and the ruffled sleeves of his shirt seemed to swallow his arms, but he kept opening and closing his hands anyway, wrinkling the fabric.

"Something just isn't right with him." Joey leaned back. "It's like the man is paranoid or something."

"What does that mean?" Link looked up.

"Paranoid? Why don't we just make this easy and say he's _really_ concerned about something." Kurama explained. "Something is deeply bothering him." Link nodded as if he understood. Link finally let out a loud grunt of annoyance and shot up from his spot behind the milk crates, darting out towards the corral. Joey slapped himself and jumped up after the younger man and Kurama sighed, rubbing his forehead delicately before walking after them at an annoying casual pace. Navi followed slowly next to Kurama, a loud sigh of frustration coming out of the blue fairy.

"You!" Link pointed dramatically. Ingo stopped in his tracks, his hands dropping to his side. He whirled around to Link, beady black eyes wide, the dark circles underneath them visible on his clammy skin.

"W-what….W-w-who are you?" Ingo stepped back, as if he were afraid. "What do you want from me?"

"We found Malon!" Link seemed angry. "I can't believe you'd just leave her like that! And we don't know where Talon is! And everything is so sad! It's your fault, isn't it?" Ingo backed up again, his back pressing against the cold metal of the gate doors.

"Its….It's not my fault." Ingo stammered.

"Yeah it-" Link continued but Kurama's firm hand on his shoulder stopped him mid-sentence. "What is it, Kurama?"

"Something definitely isn't right." the redhead said cryptically. Joey took a big step forward.

"Where's Talon, buddy?" Joey said firmly, but not angrily, in a rare moment of maturity.

"T-talon?" Ingo stuttered out. "Talon…." His tone went from scared to sad.

"Well?" Link joined in, his tone not particularly thrilled but not really angry either.

"He's not here anymore." Ingo managed to cough out, his arms crossed, rubbing his upper arms mindlessly. "He was…I….He….I made him….Gone. He's….I don't know where…He's just…I…He's just _gone_. Not here anymore."

"Now this is just sad." Joey lifted an eyebrow, his amber eyes scanning over the older man in pity.

"Not here anymore? He left the ranch, you mean?" Kurama asked, his voice the gentlest of the three.

"Not here. He…" Ingo seemed to desperately try to compose himself. "I…kicked him…out."

"You kicked out Talon! But this is his ranch!" Link declared. "And Malon! Why was she like that in the stable!"

"Ganondorf…" Ingo said. He went quiet.

"Okay, Red, you're the perceptive one. What the hell is going on?" Joey turned, brushing some blond locks out of his eyes.

"I'm…not entirely sure yet." Kurama said, not tearing his gaze off of the man. Link wanted to say something else, but Kurama's hand grabbed his shoulder gently, halting the boy before he could form a sentence. The silence was an unsteady one, the gentle roar of thunder awkwardly breaking the uneasy silence. A few rain drops fell down, splattering against the ground graceless. Joey shook his head when one cold drop hit his cheek, but Kurama and Link ignored it. Ingo seemed to barely notice who he was talking to, let alone the cold rain drops beginning to darken the color of the ground around him. As another roar of thunder crashed out, Ingo let out a painful noise. It was somewhere between a gasp and a scream, but whatever it was, it was sad and pained. It was a muffled, stuttering gasp, little remnants of noise escaping his chapped lips, as if he didn't have the breath or mental comprehension for a full out scream.

"What in Din's name was _that_?" Navi asked, sitting down on Link's shoulder. Link shook his head, his wide blue eyes now glassed over in pity, mirroring Joey's same expression.

"I…I….I….What….I…" Ingo coughed out between frantic, choking breaths, sliding down to the ground, his white tights getting stained on the ground. "I…I….I…I….Don't….I….Don't….I….S…..So….I…" Ingo gasped out desperately, his fists clenching up, gathering some dirt from the barely-wet ground. With one final, inaudible word, he fell forward, his face resting harshly against he ground.

"Well….That was bizarre." Joey said after a moment of silence.

"Bizarre, indeed." Kurama said. By the look on his face, it was clear Link had now idea what the word "bizarre" meant, but given the situation, he was willing to hold his tongue and ask later. Joey picked up the man, taking note of his quick, sharp breaths and turned to Kurama.

"Let's just go inside before the storm actually comes." Kurama said. They went back to the house, and were greeted by the girls.

"Malon is still upstairs, asleep." Katara explained. "We cleaned her up, though, and found a warm blanket for her."

"What the hell happened to Ingo?" Aya asked, her eyes wide, half-expecting a long, elaborate tale about how Link tripped epically into Ingo and killed him in one shot by accident or something. The idea of such an absurd tale left her head when she saw the man was breathing. Joey went upstairs and put the man on a bed in another. Taking quick note, he made sure to lock the windows and he did the same to the door when he left. After a satisfying "click" he went back downstairs, where Kurama was telling the girls what happened.

"When she wakes up, we can talk to Malon." Kaori said. "But what about Talon? He's the only one we're missing."

"I'm going to go find him!" Link hopped up from his creaky chair, brushing a wrinkle out of his tunic.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, turning to the man.

"Talon needs to come home! He must be so sad! He can't have any milk!" Link grinned. The statement was dopey, but it was clear Link meant it.

"You're not going alone, though." Kaori said.

"I'll go with you." Kurama stood up. "Joey, you should stay here with the girls and watch over Malon and Ingo."

"Can do. I'll feel better about Link going off in the middle of a storm when someone else is there."

"Ugh, you all are so annoying sometimes!" Navi said sarcastically, flying up from her spot on the table. Link and Kurama nodded reassuringly and the two exited the house with Navi.

"Where is Talon?" Link looked up innocently.

"There aren't many places for refuge nowadays, it would seem." Kurama tapped his chin and looked up at Navi. "Perhaps he's in the village somewhere?" Navi nodded and Link bounded towards the corral. Kurama chased after him and they stopped once they went in to the middle of the corral. Epona looked frightful, but curious as she sniffed Link.

"Link! Epona's Song. Play it." Kurama said sternly. Link needed little instruction and began to play the song. The horse made a happy noise, nuzzling against Link, thrilled to see a familiar face. Another horse, a brown one, seemed to warm up to Kurama just fine. As they rode off on the horses at an admirable speed, Link called out to Kurama.

"Can the one guy really make it this far on his own?"

"Possibly. Talon is lazy, but he seems use to traveling." Kurama called back. "Let's hope he's in the village and nowhere else."

At some point, a silence befell the three, with Navi flying as fast as she could alongside Link. Kurama followed close behind Link, and the only noise between them was the clattering of hoofs on the dirt path and the loud sound of rain crashing to the ground, muffled by the sounds of loud thunder. It wasn't an angry storm, but rather, gentle. Horseback cut traveling time in half, and they arrived at the entrance to the village in a couple of hours' time. They didn't stop to catch their breaths, however, and hopped off their horses, darting up the stairs of the village. All it took was Kurama pointing to the inn for Link to burst through the doors. Nightfall and the storm had driven everyone inside. The lobby and the eating area went silent when the doors burst open. The kind old lady who ran the inn, stopped, turning in alarm to the two young men and the fairy that stood, soaking wet in the doorway.

"…" Link scanned over determinedly over the crowd in the inn, his expression clearly signaling he was waiting for Kurama to jump in. "Kurama…Where is he? I forgot what he looked like." Kurama half-expected that to and after a moment of scanning, his eyes locked on a short, tubby man in the corner, alone with a bowl of soup. He seemed to barely notice the commotion. His hair was a bit greyer, but it was Talon without a doubt. Kurama pointed and Link stupidly bounded through the inn, leaping clumsily over a table and skidding to a halt in front of Talon. Kurama politely made his way through, a few muttered apologies on Link's behalf.

"Talon!" Link grabbed the man by the shoulders, snapping the portly man out of his trance. "Do you remember me, Cucco Man?" His eyes widened, at first confused, but then shocked as his mind began to register who was holding him. He took in a deep breath, looking up at Link and then switching his gaze to the redhead.

"Link….Kurama?" Talon said, as if he were trying to get the names right. His sad expression snapped and a grin tugged at his lips. "Who could forget you? You and your friends stuck out like sore thumbs!" Link, overwhelmed by his already naturally explosive joy pulled the man into a big bear hug, earning a cough and a gag from Talon.

"Link, this will all be pointless if you kill him." Kurama said bluntly, placing a hand in his pocket while another hand pulled on some of his wet hair.

"Where have you been? I thought I'd never see you kids again!" Talon said, laughing a bit at Link's appreciated enthusiasm. "Why are you here?"

"We…were left for personal reasons, might be the best way of putting it." Kurama sighed. "But that's unimportant. We went to the ranch. You have to come back."

"Ingo…He…" Talon looked down. "He kicked me out of the ranch. Ganondorf offered him some kind of 'deal' and handed over the ranch and everything on it to him. He kicked me out soon after. I wasn't able to get Malon out…"

"She's fine now. We found her in something of a predicament, but she's fine." Kurama nodded his head reassuringly.

"Ingo snapped or something." Navi jumped in. "He fell unconscious without giving us more than a slew of incoherent words."

"It was weird…and scary. Kind of like that scary _owl_." Link emphasized it, like the word "owl" was poison in his mouth and he did full body shudder. The ditzy young man seemed wholly oblivious to the fact that he was soaking wet.

"All I know is that you need to come back, immediately." Navi said. Talon seemed impatient all of a sudden, not asking anymore questions and jumping up from his seat, slurping down the last bits of soup from the ceramic bowl that was next to him. He grabbed his back, a simple leather bag and pulled on a thick jacket.

"I'm old and don't have much to live for." Talon said sarcastically. "We're going now. I have to see my daughter again." It was more of a command than a request and the two young men shrugged. They were already soaking wet, anyways.

"Onward, then!" Link grabbed Talon's wrist, and bounded out of the inn, the calm redhead and annoyed fairy quietly following behind, leaving a _very_ confused inn in their wake.

_Meanwhile…_

"What?" Malon's sudden exclamation caught the surprise of Kaori, who had nearly fallen asleep in the chair next to the bed. She had volunteered to watch over Malon until she woke up, but the night had been long.

"Malon!" Kaori said cheerfully, doing over to the bed and placing a comforting hand on Malon's shoulder. The girl jumped a bit, understandably, and she turned. Her dark blue eyes stared over the girl carefully, as if trying to piece together who this stranger was in her room.

"Kaori!" Malon's eyes widened and she jumped on the purple-clad girl in an enthusiastic bear hug. "Oh, I'm so thrilled to see you again!" Kaori hugged her back and carefully explained the situation to her.

"Oh, I barely remember him doing that!" Malon huffed. "It was so uncomfortable, though." She stared down at her wrists and bare ankles. The ropes had done a bit of damage to her delicate skin, and rubbed them a bit raw. Katara had kindly bandaged up her ankles and wrists to deter from any further damage. "But…Ingo? How is he?"

"Joey locked him in a room, but he was out cold last time we checked. We weren't able to make heads or tails of what he did or how it happened." Kaori looked off to the side, adjusting her jacket. "I'll let you get dressed and stuff. We'll be downstairs….Link and Kurama went to go find your father, by the way." Malon nodded, her eyes softening at the thought of seeing her father again. Kaori then went downstairs.

"WE CAME BACK AND WE HAVE THE PERSON WITH THE STUFF AND IT WAS EPIC BUT NOW I'M COLD AND WET AND ITS RAINING AND THAT MADE ME WET BUT HORSEBACK IS FUN AND THE VILLAGE IS AWESOME AND THE SKY WAS YELLING AT ME BUT WE HAVE THE DUDE and now I'm hungry." Link said, ending his boisterous entry on an unfittingly quiet note. Kurama kind of face-palmed at that and Talon let out a happy laugh, clearly thrilled to be home.

"Hey there, Talon!" Joey waved from his seat at the table. Katara and Aya both waved, as well and Link made himself comfortable, plopping down at the table, content. Katara rolled her eyes and used her water powers to dry off Link, Kurama, and Talon, putting the excess water she took from them in a pot and dumping it outside.

"Nifty trick, you've got there." Talon sat down comfortably.

"It's useful. This is more than she normally has going for her." Joey said dryly. Katara kicked the larger man in the shin, and Joey's head dropped to the table, defeated. Kaori laughed a bit.

"Dad!" Malon came darting down the stairs.

"Malon!" Talon got back up and pulled his daughter into a fond hug. Malon was half-crying, but contained herself. When she was all dressed up, and not tied up dumped in a closet, it was easy to see that Malon had grown into a pretty young lady. Her bright hair was still long, to her lower back, and her thin child's body had been replaced with a very curvy form that was also very lean with muscle. She wore a simple outfit- a white shirt, buttoned up with a pink skirt and a yellow-white apron. Her clear skin was a bit marred by the bandages that covered where her wrists had been worn down, but brown boots covered up the bandages on her ankles.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" Talon stared at her wrists.

"I'm fine now." Malon said. "Ingo took me in the middle of the night and tied me up. Kaori told me the found me in the stable's storage closet. I'm fine now though. It seems that Ingo isn't well." The two sat down and the group gave the entire story of what had happened, detail by detail.

"All I know is that Ingo made a deal with Ganondorf. He was going to hand over our best horses as an offering of allegiance or something like that." Malon looked down. "When he grabbed me from my room and knocked me out, he told me he was giving me to Ganondorf, too, since he would appreciate it."

"So, did Ingo flip out because of pressure or guilt or something?" Joey turned.

"Guilt can do some pretty nasty things to people." Kurama responded. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's going on. With time, however, he might be fine. For now, an eye should be kept on him."

"What made you come to the ranch, though?" Malon asked, leaning forward, her hands folded on her lap. Her curiosity was genuine, but age had allowed her to temper it a bit.

"Where were you guys, really?" Talon narrowed his eyes, not suspiciously, but out of genuine curiosity. "You guys said you'd come back some more, but you disappeared. Like you dropped off the face of the planet or somethin'."

"Let's just say we're doing something really important." Joey smirked.

"IT INVOLVES ANTS AND LOTS OF PUDDING." Link declared stupidly, ruining the mystique of the whole moment.

"Link, shut up." Navi growled. "They're supposed to stop Ganondorf."

"Oh, you're like Heroes! That must mean you found all those stones for Zelda, the ones you said you were looking for." Malon clapped.

"Yeah. Call us 'heroes'." Katara laughed. "Just don't' ask for any details because we're not sure yet ourselves."

"It'll be slow. Not right away, but you're patient, right?" Aya asked.

"To answer Malon's question, though, we came because we were worried about y'all." Joey said nonchalantly.

"Oh, thank you! I'm glad you were here to help. Stay as long as you like before you head out again! We have a lot of catching up to do!" Malon pointed a finger. "So, no going anywhere yet!"

The party kindly took Malon up on her offer, deciding to rest.

**A/n:** So, I decided to switch it up and elaborate on the ranch-thing more. Oh, and I decided to make Ingo not _quite_ a douche, especially since I like to give NPC's characters and stuff. So, YAY. I'll touch upon the stuff in the village next chapter, but since the race with the dead guy is really unimportant and anticlimactic, I won't do much with it. The forest stuff is a bajillion times more important.

OH AND YOU CAN HOLD BACK THOSE GASPS OF SHOCK.


	16. Medallion of Forest Part 1

**A/n: **This chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer:** Snowmen.

**Chapter 16: Medallion of Forest Part 1**

The party had stayed at the ranch only a couple of days, enough to replenish their strength and gather their bearings. While the peaceful atmosphere of the ranch and its kindly residents seemed tempting, the group realized they had things of greater importance to worry about, and figured such things required sacrificing some comfort. Heeding Sheik's words, they had gone to the graveyard behind Kakariko Village, only to somehow end up racing the ghost of the old grave keeper, Dampe, who challenged them with the prize of a special weapon. Of course, they made quick work of the ghost's race through his labyrinthine tomb, and won themselves a strange tool, a chained, hook launcher that acted a lot like a retractable harpoon of sorts. Regardless, they griped about giving Link another sharp object to hurt himself and those around him with, and tried to move along again.

"Okay, so was I the only one who found the whole race-me-I'm-a-ghost thing a tiny bit…weird?" Joey asked as the party made their way to the trotted their way to the forest on the horses Malon had bestowed them. The horses would conveniently answer the call of "Epona's Song", which made their lives a ton easier.

"After walking around the grimy innards of a giant whale, I'm really not that surprised by it." Aya said dryly, stretching a bit as they walked. "We _did_ remember to stock up on supplies, right?"

"Kurama remembered, as always." Katara shrugged her shoulders. It was more or less the redhead's given job to manage the party's finances and buy stuff, since nine times out of ten, they forgot otherwise.

"Yes, we have some supplies now. Hopefully, it'll be enough." Kurama smiled.

"Whatcha mean?" Link drawled, turning around lazily.

"We don't know what to expect when we enter the forest." the redhead answer matter-of-factly. "After what condition we've found the castle town and the ranch in, I don't want to know what happened to the forest."

"Ah! Saria!" Link suddenly exclaimed, almost falling off of his horse. "What happened to Saria?"

"Didn't Sheik say something along the lines of the first sage being a 'girl we all know'?" Katara inquired, tapping her chin.

"Yes, he did." Kurama nodded in agreement.

"There's only one girl from the forest any of you are acquainted with, and for that matter, only one of those little brats smart enough to be a sage in the first place." Navi said grumpily from her place atop Link's head. "The other girls in that village were whiny. Saria was always weird, anyways."

"Saria was not weirdddddd." Link whined, drawing out the last syllable of his sentence melodramatically. He waved his arms up in and down in a protesting manner. "Saria was cooooolllll."

"I didn't mean weird in a completely insulting manner." the fairy insisted.

"Just in a semi-insulting manner." Aya corrected, waving a gloved finger.

"Exactly."

"You care so much about your job as a fairy guardian. Wasn't it your job to like children or something?" Joey turned towards the fairy.

"I did whatever the tree told me to do." Navi responded, her tone flat. "The job requirements didn't say I needed to like children. Then again, it might explain why he waited forever to actually assign me a child."

"So, was assigning you Link a blessing or a curse?" Aya asked.

"Good, because I do all the important save-the-world-yay stuff, and then bad, because….it's…well….it's Link." the fairy flickered her aura bit, still sitting on Link's head.

"Heyyyyyyyy." Link looked all kiddish and defeated, which was less effecting now with his more mature face. "That's not nice!"

"Fascinating conversation, but we've arrived now." Kurama pointed, getting off of his horse. The rest of the party blinked for a moment in a "what-the-hell-we're-here?" manner, but hopped off as well. After leaving some carrots for their horses, they went through the wooden tunnel, crossing the bridge into Kokiri Village. While before the village was lively and cheerful, full of laughter, things now seemed bland and lifeless. The natural sunlight that seemed to poke through the trees seemed to be gone, and there was light fog that made visibility just good enough to make it through the village's now abandoned path. There were monster lining the roads where the children once were, as well.

"This is awful!" Kaori exclaimed, taking a step back away from a giant Deku Baba that snapped at them. Joey burnt the creature up, and took a look around.

"Uh…" Joey tossed a fire ball idly up and down in his palm, squinting to see past the fog. "Are all the children okay?"

"I can still sense them via their fairies." Navi said, as if she weren't really worried. "I'm sure they are all just hiding in the houses. The monsters wouldn't follow them."

"I have a feeling there was some battling, though." Kurama gestured to some bloodstains on some trees, hinting the children had struggled getting to safety.

"Let's just get moving." Navi said, nudging her worried companion along the village path. The party made their way back up the Lost Woods.

"You know, did anyone else notice we haven't seen that owl yet?" Kaori stopped, turning to the rest.

"Good point. What happened to the annoying bastard?" Aya looked around.

"I thought Rauru reminded me a lot of him, personally." Katara laughed a bit.

"THAT WOULD BE SO COOL." Link suddenly jumped forward, his arms outspread enthusiastically. "The old guy could be an owl mutant! And he would have a talon-claw thingy for one arm and feathers growing out of his face! And he would come with kickass, action-packed owl powers! He would be sooooo awesome."

"…" The group responded to Link is normal fashion.

"Am I the only one that had the dream the other night?" the young man asked innocently, straightening back up.

"I'm not even going to ask." Navi floated around her partner's head, her exasperation clear in her flickering aura. Joey nudged the young hero along and they navigated their way through the confusing forest yet again. Despite being the brains, Kurama had only a slight idea of where to go. Understandable, given that they had been in a deep slumber for five years, and that really messes up someone's memories a bit.

"If I had known we'd be navigating this stupid forest again, I would have had Red over here write down the path or something." Joey whined, burning up another Deku Baba without even looking.

"Halt! Who are you all?" a childish voice, one that was trying very hard to sound brave and tough, caught the jabbering party off-guard. Turning, they saw a familiar Kokiri child, standing in front of the next pathway, an orange fairy quietly flying around him.

"Mido!" Link blinked in surprise and, out of habit, took a step back. Though he was taller and clearly would have the upper hand in whatever scuffle he could get in with Mido, his childish insecurity poked through his adult appearance.

"How do you…." Mido stopped for a moment, looking over the party very carefully. It was baffling to the party, and really hit home to them how much they had changed and grown during the five year time skip, when they looked at the young Mido. Little had the young boy changed, his messy orange hair poking out from under his green cap, his baggy clothes still hanging loosely on his lanky form. Despite that, there was something amiss about the child. While before the party had remembered him having an almost overbearingly commanding prescence and a boastful, loud voice that bordered on obnoxious, his voice now lacked that tone. In just a couple of incomplete sentences, it was clear that his voice was almost a whisper compared to what he had yelled at Link with- a stern voice that almost seemed the slightest bit concerned, like his mind was somewhere else. His clothes were a bit ripped, a couple of long slits on the loose legs of his pants, his hat a little frayed, his shoes more scuffed than they should have been, his shirt messy and a little more ill-fitting than normal. As he scanned over the party with those same beady brown eyes, his freckled face paled with thought, it seemed to everyone that he was perhaps a bit neglected, a little weary from running, maybe a bit thinner than normal from lack of proper nutrition.

"Mido…?" Link finally took a step forward, his blue eyes widening a bit at the sheer difference in size. His height was relatively normal for an adult compared to a child, since after all, he wasn't the tallest young adult in the world, but looking between Joey and Mido, the older blond doubled the young Kokiri in size, easily.

"…It can't be…It can't be!" Mido jumped back in shock, his arms out stretched in a desperate, disbelieving manner. "Link! It's….you…The guy with…no fairy…" He trailed off, his eyes falling to the ground as if all the unpleasant memories with Link came rolling back to him like a violent flood. He looked up to his fairy, who flew around him anxiously, flickering her aura in a confirming manner, proving to him it was true.

"Brat, it's us." Navi stated dryly, falling on to Link's head lazily.

"If I recall, our departure from one another was a bit…abrupt." Kurama searched for a polite word, but shrugged and placed his hands in his pockets.

"Mido…Are you okay?" Link asked, his blue eyes almost watery with concern. It was clear to the party that Link was worried, but still apprehensive. After all the years growing up with Mido tormenting him and belittling him, he found it difficult to work up polite words for the Kokiri boss. If anything, Link's convenient age-up seemed to grant him some confidence he lacked before.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" Mido snapped. His fists trembled at his sides; as if he were holding back all of his emotions to his best ability. "I always knew you were strange! And not one of us, either! You abandon the village and leave with your new weird friends…and…grow up on all of us!" Mido seemed less offended personally and more…hurt.

"I….I was doing…what the Deku Tree wanted me to do…I didn't…" Link trailed off when he felt Kaori's hand on his shoulder. "I didn't expect to grow up. Maybe you were right that I…wasn't one of you."

"Of course I was right!" Mido looked up at Link with watery eyes. "And after you left, Saria was all sad and worried and then you vanished off the face of the planet and she couldn't sense you or your friends so I thought you were dead even though she kept babbling this optimistic nonsense about how you were just completing your journey and you would be back to save us, even after all those stupid monsters came and took over our village…"

"…" Link looked down.

"And…And…I didn't want to believe her." Mido's voice grew quiet. "I told her you all weren't coming back. That was the last thing I told her before she went off. I told her she was wrong and that you wouldn't come back for us and that we would all just rot away hiding. I told her…she was…wrong…"

"Mido?" Kaori piped.

"And…She was right?" Mido questioned. He took a step forward, big unattractive tears silently rolling down his freckled cheeks, so frustrated and emotional that he stopped caring who saw him. He looked up at Link, studying the young boy he used to torture and make fun of all the time. He looked over his newfound height, his slim muscular stature, the regal sword and shield on his back. And while he saw the young man's now thinned, adult face, the big innocent blue eyes, the big puppy eyes that used to shed so many tears while he protested Mido's "authority", still sparkled and still held that familiar naiveté, and at the moment, childish worry. "She was right all along and I told her she wasn't. What kind of friend am I?"

"Mido, what's going on?" Aya asked, crossing her arms. Mido looked over everyone else in the party, looking to his fairy, who nodded her head in reassurance, sitting down gently on his shoulder.

"Saria went off to the Forest Temple by herself." Mido started, a little begrudgingly. "A little while ago, yesterday maybe, I'm not sure, she started complaining of headaches."

"Headaches?" Link bent down. "What was wrong with Saria?"

"I dunno. She said they were headaches because the forest spirits were crying out for her." Mido looked off to the side. "I told her she was just worrying too much. After awhile of complaining, though, she snuck out of the village and I followed her here, to this spot in the woods. She said not to follow her any further and that she was going to the Forest Temple to answer the spirits' calls, because they were sad. I told her she was nuts again, and she said it was fine."

"Plucky kid, I'll give her that. Gutsy, too." Navi remarked dryly from Link's head. "If the village was like, I highly doubt the meadow or the temple is any easier."

"What else did she say?" Katara asked.

"When I told her that she was crazy, she made me promise not to follow her, and that if I wanted to help, I could wait right here and keep anyone from following her." Mido looked down. "I asked her what to do if she didn't come back, like if something happened to her, and she said that she'd be fine, because the spirits said you all would come back soon…that Link would save her and stuff. I said she was dreaming, because you and your friends had abandoned us and they wouldn't come back to save her. She just smiled at me and went on, but I could tell I hurt her feelings. She ran off before…I could…apologize."

"You…apologize?" Joey asked incredulously, earning a jab in the ribs from Katara. He muffled his curses, and turned back to the Kokiri, rubbing his side.

"If you let us through, we can go save her!" Link jumped up, his eyes no longer brimming with tears of apprehension, but shining with determination. "Saria said so, so it must be true!"

"A prophet she is." Navi said sarcastically.

"No how to ruin a moment, don't you oh wonderful guide of ours." Joey responded with a questioning tone.

"Joey! You're ruining the moment, too!" Katara scolded.

"Well, she wanted you to come save her anyways." Mido tapped his foot against the ground, kicking up some dust. "I….I guess…I'll let you pass." He walked off to the side, a bit defeated.

"Don't worry Mido!" Link did a thumbs-up gesture. "She'll be okay!" Turning away from the troubled boy, everyone began to make their way through the tunnel Mido had been blocking. "I promise." The party started walking away, but didn't get very far before a voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Let me come with you!" Mido ran forward, bending over to catch his breath. "I have to see Saria again! I have to say I'm sorry! I can't just…trust you all to do it yourselves when you all left for all that time! I just…I need to show her I can help her too. I need to tell her I'm sorry!"

"…" The party was a bit taken aback by Mido's sudden declaration and looked among each other for a moment.

"I can't do much…Just my slingshot, but I'm probably a better shot than you!" Mido pointed dramatically, some of his old spark shining through. "I'm going and that's that!"

"Okay, okay." Aya waved her hands in defeat. "I guess we're taking the brat with us."

"Okay, squirt." Joey smirked mischievously. "You can tag along."

"I'm not a squirt!" Mido glared. "But because you all are bigger, you all can do the hard stuff, okay?"

"Better said than done!" Link seemed little fazed by this sudden turn of events and the party welcomed Mido along as a guest of sorts. The walk through the rest of the woods was awkward, to say the least, but between Joey's teasing, Link's babbling and Mido's boasting it was hard for it _not_ to be awkward.

"So…Are those giant…pigs with spears?" Aya pointed casually to the maze, which was now crawling with huge pig-like monsters with giant spears, grunting and rumbling the ground with each step they took.

"Moblins." Navi explained. "Avoid the spears."

"Thanks." Joey glared at the fairy before rolling his amber eyes. "Okay, how do we get past the giant pigs because the glowing ball over here didn't help?"

"You know, I can find ways to be less helpful. Don't push me. I _have ways_." Navi quipped.

"Charge!" Link darted into the maze, leaving a startled party blinking at him.

"Oh, that idiot!" Kaori went in after him.

"Of course, both of you blindly charge into a maze filled with giant pigs that can spear us and eat us for breakfast." Aya grumbled. Grabbing the defiant Mido before he, too, blindly bolted into the dangerous hedge maze, she followed Kurama's much more thoughtful, sneaky approach.

"Ah, hell." Joey sighed loudly. "More sneaking around."

"Shut up and just do it!" Katara seethed. Link, having the luck of the Goddesses or something, had already disposed of a couple of Moblins by pure chance. Carefully, the party made it through the maze, disposing of all the Moblins with the advantages of Link's luck and Kurama's earth powers, given that they were in the perfect setting to take advantage of them. Joey grabbed Mido and darted past their next obstacle carefully, a large Moblin that was slamming down violent shockwaves in their direction.

"Hey!" Mido said stubbornly.

"Okay, kid, those shockwaves would shoot you all the way to Lake Hylia." Joey remarked sarcastically. Skidding to a stop, he turned around to see Link and Katara getting rid of the giant monster, picking up the rupees it left behind. He put Mido down, who huffed in frustration.

"Saria?" Link ran forward, stopping when he saw the tree stump she so often sat on empty. In fact, the whole open area where the emerald haired girl played her song seemed to miss the cheerful spirit it used to have.

"So she really did go the temple?" Mido asked, as if he didn't want to believe it.

"How?" Joey looked up incredulously, pointing to the near-inaccessible entrance to the moss-covered temple. There was a tree, tall enough to have some branches of questionable strength poke out over a platform, with only some rubble as a reminder of the stairs that used to be there.

"Your friend isn't here anymore." a sharp, commanding voice snapped everyone out of their thoughts. Mido jumped back in surprise out of instinct and everyone turned to see the familiar, ambiguous Sheikah standing near Saria's tree stump.

"AH!" Link screamed dramatically, only for Kaori to clasp her hand down on his mouth, quieting him down. "?"

"Link, shut up." Navi demanded, earning a whimper from the boy.

"The young girl you seek went inside the temple on her own." Sheik gestured. "As the Sage, she heard the voices calling to her, but she is unable to respond to her awakening call properly because the evil inside the temple prevents her from doing so. Right now, she is lost and trapped inside this temple."

"Poor Saria!" Link whined.

"Already figured all of that out." Navi said, unfazed from atop Link's head. "Thank you for the refresh, though."

"The flow of time is cruel, don't you agree?" Sheik walked forward, crossing his arms, his red eyes narrowing a bit as he stared at the party, scanning over them before glancing and Mido and back at Link. "It is different for each and every person, but no one can do anything to change it."

"What?" Mido asked flatly, looking up for some kind of translation.

"Cryptic nonsense. Don't worry about it." Aya waved her hand nonchalantly, getting silently scolded by Kaori for her rudeness.

"Now then…" there was glowing at Sheik's fingertips and a harp appeared in his hands- a simple gold harp with delicate strings. "Join me in playing a song, Link. Let me teach you the melody of the forest, the 'Minuet of Forest'." Link obeyed, pulling out the Ocarina of Time and taking position. He placed the ocarina to his lips, looking at Sheik for something to follow along with. Sheik started off plucking a few simple notes on his harp before steadily waltzing into an upbeat song. Link had no problems picking up on the notes of the melody, the graceful notes that escaped his ocarina dancing perfectly in time with the quick, ringing sounds that the Sheikah plucked away on the gold harp. They stayed like that for awhile while the song swirled around them, and for a moment, both seemed lost in the music. It was a cheerful, uplifting song- the kind of song that was perfect for dancing- and in a way, they seemed welcoming and guiding, the melody did, while at the same time, beautiful and perfect in its utter simplicity.

"Good, Link." Sheik's voice held a sense of contentment as his harp disappeared in a small burst of gold light. While his eyes were still unreadable and strange, he no longer seemed intimidating, just calm in a way that was reminiscent of Impa.

"That song was so pretty!" Kaori clapped cheerfully, taken aback by the beautiful duet she was audience to. "You guys should play together more often! Imagine the other songs you could play!"

"That was so awesome!" Link put his ocarina away. "If we played, can it be with dinosaurs and cheese?"

"What?" Joey looked down.

"I had a dream about that, too."

"Link, shut up." Navi demanded. Mido just rolled his eyes.

"Well then." Sheik took a few steps back, tossing a Deku nut up and down with the tips of his thin fingers. "I shall see you all again, Heroes. I believe this is where we part ways for now." Sheik didn't give much chance for proper farewells, and threw down the nut, disappearing in the flash. He was no longer there when the party regained proper eye sight.

"He's a little…odd." Katara blinked, straightening out a fold on her skirt.

"Understatement. But he's not as scary as before." Aya shrugged her shoulders, stretching her arms a bit. "Do we use that weird, hook thing to get up there?"

"Sure." Joey grabbed Mido lifting him up and down a few times to get a good sense of the boy's weight before taking a step back and tossing the boy onto the platform. A loud "Ow!" and a slew of nasty insults followed. The boy poked his head over the platform to look down at the party.

"What the heck?" Mido glared down, his cap a little lopsided. He rubbed his behind, a muffled "ow" escaping his lips again.

"Thought it'd be fun." Joey shrugged. Kurama looked up, gauging the height before picking up Aya and leaping onto the platform himself, landing gracefully next to Mido.

"Oh, well, that was easy." Aya shrugged, having no qualms about being carried by the handsome redhead. Mido blinked, half-impressed by the look on his face, but it was clear he'd never admit it.

"Hooky thing, away!" Link grabbed Kaori by the waste and shot himself up to the platform with the aid of the chained weapon, having sunk its sharp hook into the sturdiest looking branch upon Navi's quiet suggestion. He tossed it down to Joey, who grabbed Katara by doing the same thing.

"That reminded me of sailing a boat…" Link said stupidly, pocketing the weapon in a bag under his shield.

"How…?" Katara asked. "Or should I ask?"

"It had to with my dream, silly!" Link wagged his finger at the water user. "Duh!"

"I lost track of what went on in this dream of his." Aya blinked. "What, sailboats, owl mutants, dinosaurs and cheese?"

"There was an octopus, a top hat, and some long blade-y, purple thing that wanted to kill me and a dancing child, too." Link clarified, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Okay, then." Navi whacked her partner on the head, urging him in the right direction. "Move! We've got that girl to save, remember?"

"Onward!" Link threw his finger forward, marching blindly through the temple's shadowy entrance with the same blind determination he went through his entire life with.

"If he gets eaten by a monster for being so unobservant and stupid, I won't be surprised." Aya said. With that, the rest of the party, with Mido in tow, followed their oblivious leader.

**A/n:** The more Zelda fanfiction I've read, the more I see Mido characterized in basically the same manner. Yeah, he's an annoying prick for most the scenes you get with him, but he does lighten up a bit after the time skip, and on top of that, you don't get many scenes with him in the first place. On top of that, I know he's a child and all, but I always thought it was weird how he (and everyone else for that matter, basically) forgot who Link was or something over the period of his absence. Sure, the dude was off sleeping for seven years in another dimension, but who can forget some dopey, short left-handed kid with a weird hat with a sword and a whole other arsenal of dangerous weapons that most minors would be arrested for in the normal world? I mean, yeah, by the time they see him again, he's a hot bishie-dude, but he's _still_ a dopey guy with a dangerous arsenal of weaponry and a fairy following him around. How can someone forget that?

I think it would only make it even more ridiculous for him to not remember who they were (same logic I used with Malon and Talon), given that Link's a babbling idiot with a bunch of weird looking people following him around. It's a little hard to forget that, right?

With that said, enjoy Mido's much needed character development. Its about time the kid got something other than "OH HAI I'M A PRICK IMMA GONNA DEGRADE YOU NOW BAI". Just sayin'.

Review and all that jazz.


	17. Medallion of Forest Part 2

**A/n: **This chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer: **LOOK BEHIND YOU NOW.

**Chapter 17: Medallion of Forest Part 2**

"I spoke too soon." Aya's dry voice was barely heard over Link's mindless screaming and the clashing and grinding of swords and claws. Link, had of course, blindly walked right into the faces of a pair of Wolfos, and he was kindly welcomed into the Forest Temple to vicious snarling from the pair of angry creatures. Link had, of course, little problem dispatching one creature on his own, and Kurama had readily taken down the other with little effort at all.

"Those things are so mean…" Mido trailed off, clearly having had some experience with them during the village's monster invasion. No one asked the boy to elaborate, but they could guess it wasn't pleasant.

"They were mean and vicious at first." Katara mused, walking forward a bit. "But they're really easy to deal with when you find out their weakness."

"Hey! There's a chest up on a tree up here." Navi called down to the group having flown up to investigate. There was an eerie feeling to temple and they really hadn't even entered it yet. The vine-covered walls and the calm yellow sky seemed, while scary; peaceful in a fantastical sort of way, and it was the tiniest bit off-putting.

"I nominate Red to go get it because he's the one that jumps and stuff." Aya pointed to Kurama. Everyone unanimously agreed that Link shouldn't go get it, only because they couldn't afford their leader to fall and crush his skull or something. Kurama shrugged his shoulders, as if this really weren't a big deal, and climbed up the vines on the wall carefully, before swiftly hopping from one tree to the other. He jumped down after a moment of silence, landing gracefully on the ground.

"It's a key, it would seem." Kurama said, pocketing the key. He just turned towards the next door to pass through, brushing some of his red hair out of the way.

"Yay!" Link seemed to learn no lesson from the "wolf-in-your-face" thing, and darted through the door. Past it, he dispatched a Giant Skulltula with the hookshot, signaling it safe to pass on. Once past, they found themselves in what they assumed to be the main room, or lobby, of the temple itself. The walls were a dull grey color, probably lacking color or luster due to age, and some dark green moss tinted the corners, making the already lightless room seem darker and more ominous. In the center was a small elevator that started going down the minute they looked at it, with four flames of different colors disappearing from the torches that held them, four Poe ghosts giggling in amusement before sinking into the ground.

"So….Okay then." Aya blinked a couple of times. Mido, annoying and confident as he may have been, seemed to have taken notice of the underlying danger in the temple, probably judging it by the atmosphere of the large room as they walked through it- a dangerously sad and empty feeling. As such, the Kokiri had his slingshot ready, but he stuck close behind everyone else, using them as guides.

"Isn't this the design on that door?" Katara poked a block that sat in their way.

"A door?" Link clearly had no idea what they were talking about.

"The Door of Time! Not that I expect you to remember or anything." Navi said sarcastically. The sarcasm flew straight over the young man's head, though, and he looked up at his fairy partner dimly, clearly waiting for some kind of instruction.

"What if he plays 'The Song of Time'?" Kurama asked, pointing to the large, blue block, his eyes scanning over the design once more.

"Oh!" Link whipped out the ocarina, taking Kurama's suggestion, and he began playing the solemn song perfectly. He was a ditz that had no sense of direction, but it was hard to deny the boy made up for it with talent in other areas- fighting and music. If the boy hadn't had to become a chosen hero, the rest of his party admitted that he could have an easy career in music. It was talent in itself to remember songs and play them first try without any written reference. As he played the song slowly, his brows furrowed in the seriousness the song brought, a bluish-green light engulfed the big block, causing Mido to jump back a bit in shock, and when the song came to a conclusion, there was nothing left, just the door it was blocking.

"Sweet!" Link put away the instrument, throwing the door opens cheerfully. They entered a large, bright green courtyard. It was peaceful and quiet, definitely a change compared to the frightening feeling the temple seemed to have upon entering it. The skies were blue and clear above them, an illusion they were sure, and there were bright sparkling ponds of water stretched out in front of them, and the courtyard would have seemed beautiful if it weren't for the monsters marring its landscape. Joey burnt up the Deku Baba that snapped at them, and Link used his shield to dispose of an Octorok that shot at them. In the back, Mido shot down a Wallskulltula with his slingshot, satisfied with himself for helping in some manner. Kaori looked at the vine wall that Mido had shot at and took down two more Wallskulltulas with her bow, the other two falling into a dissipating heap with the one Mido killed.

"FIRE LOTS OF FIRE." Link burst into a random fit of laughter, causing everyone to react in the usual manner (read: walk around and get something accomplished while Link was preoccupied). The young man stopped, clearly puzzled that no one was laughing with him. Shrugging it off, he walked on and began climbing up the vine wall. Everyone followed him, Mido struggling a bit to keep up with the taller kids, but he managed. Once there, they went past a door, which barred them in and forced them to fight another monster. Joey had no problem at all dispelling the flames of the Bubble, the monster they were put up against, and Katara destroyed it with a couple of ice needles. They went on, and found themselves on a balcony staring down at the courtyard. Kurama hopped over to a neighboring balcony, tripping a switch that drained the water from a well in the corner of the room. Kurama leapt back down himself, but everyone else backtracked and met him down at the Well.

"My voice echoes!" Link seemed thrilled and he kept calling out "Hello!" over and over again until Navi smacked him and told him to stop. Mido rolled his eyes, a gesture that fell into to place with the rest of the party (who didn't roll their eyes at Link?). "Yay!" Link grabbed Kaori, his muscular arm wrapping around the purple-clad girl's waist and he jumped down the well, blatantly disregarding the ladder provided for them.

"I hope we don't go down and find Link and Kaori colored splatters on the ground where they landed." Aya remarked, earning a giggle from Katara and a grunt of acknowledgment from the grumpy fairy. Everyone climbed down, with Mido riding on Joey's back. The ladder steps were slippery and far apart, and the young Kokiri found it easier to just piggyback the tall fire-user.

"Link!" Kaori scolded, her squeaky voice echoing.

"But it was fun!" Link argued back.

"Link, don't disregard the _safe_ method of transportation again, you idiot!" Navi commanded, plopping down lazily on the boy's head and slapping on the forehead a few times, clearly annoyed. Link whimpered, defeated, and the party trudged through the dark, murky corridor beneath the well. There were bloody handprints everywhere on the walls and a muddy smell made it difficult to breathe without gagging. Their trek was worth it, due to finding another chest with a key. With that, they climbed up another ladder, exiting out through the courtyard again.

"I like the silver color of the keys!" Link said happily, admiring the key as they walked through the main lobby again. "It's so pretty! Like the moon!"

"When I look at that key, I don't really think moon." Katara quirked an eyebrow, brushing her braid over to one side as she looked around for the next place to go. Navi pointed out a locked door on the opposite side of the room. Kurama unlocked it with the key he had in his pocket and they moved forward. Passing through a small corridor with another easily-defeated bubble, they entered a large round room. It took only a few steps forward for the doors to bar shut, signaling an oncoming attack.

"So…What do you think will pop out now?" Joey looked around, hand resting on his hip.

"Animated skeletons with swords?" Aya pointed.

"Creative." The older blond smirked, cracking his knuckles.

"Stalfos." Navi said simply floating around Link's head. "Don't die."

"I'd be nowhere without your advice, Navi." Joey responded dryly. Link blocked an attack for Mido, pushing aside the Stalfos attack easily with his sturdy shield. Katara gently grabbed the boy and shoved him to the back of the room and began throwing out ice spears at the giant skeletons when they were open. Link blocked and attacked seamlessly, graceful in a way. Kurama stood off to the side for a moment, contemplating his next move before holding his hand out. A large vine shot out of it, wrapping around his wrist and sharpening into a long, pointed blade. It glistened a bit in the torch's light, signaling its strength as a sword, not just a plant's vine. Aya had her sword propped up next to her, throwing the occasional blast of light to support, and Kaori stood mostly off to the side to protect Mido, finding her arrows now directly useful in the attack. Joey had no problems at all in the battle. Having forged a sword instantly from his own flames, he found little problems in dodging and attacking, tag teaming with Link for a finishing attack on one Stalfos while Kurama and the girls dispatched another one.

"Link!" Navi ordered and the boy went over to where she was. "Get the fairy out of this jar!"

"Fairy?" Link blinked, pausing for a moment to think about her command before pulling out an empty bottle from the item bag. He bottled a pink fairy gently, placing it back in the bag with care. "Why did I do that again?"

"Because fairies are useful." Navi said. "Those are healing fairies. If you're ever in a major bind, they can heal you completely, even after you've been knocked out. Of course, they can't raise the dead or something, but whatever." The fairy plopped back down on her partner's head, wrinkling up some of his hand to make a comfy nest of sorts.

"Where did…you all learn those moves?" Mido seemed the slightest bit demanding, but in a way, sheepish. He looked over everyone. "How can a ditz like him be such a good fighter? And I've never seen magic like that!"

"We're not entirely sure yet ourselves, squirt." Joey shrugged his shoulders, tossing a fire ball between his two hands in a bored manner. He leaned against the wall, stopping briefly to take a quick break. Everyone else followed suit.

"Link just has a natural talent for swordplay and music." Kurama explained calmly.

"He's not a fast learner with anything else, by any stretch of the imagination." Navi agreed. "But for some reason, he's really good at swordsmanship and music."

"Oh…" Mido looked off to the side. "Saria taught him to play the ocarina. So…I guess it makes sense that he's good at it. She always was."

"She really is good at it." Link smiled widely.

"You're a lot nicer when we talk about Saria." Kaori noticed, turning to Mido, whose eyes immediately shot off in another direction.

"Yeah….Well…." Mido tapped his foot against the ground.

"Ah, the bully has a soft spot for the pretty girl." Joey teased.

"Oh, like you and your girlfriend over here?" Navi gestured to Katara, whose face lit up in red. Joey glared at the fairy.

"You know, I hate you sometimes." Joey crossed his arms.

"…" Mido looked off to the side and it was clear that his curiosity about the group got the better of him. "So…What were you off doing after…?" He trailed off, not mentioning the death of the Deku Tree.

"Stuff! Lots of it! And it was really cool stuff. With fire. And minty freshness." Link smiled widely, as if that made sense.

"What the Deku Tree told us to do." Navi said in a straightforward manner. "What else?"

"That's not specific!" Mido snapped. "You abandoned everyone. I at least deserve to know where you all went for five years!"

"Why? You're the one who yelled for us to get out, right?" Katara crossed her arms, turning to the young boy.

"Well…That was different…" Mido stopped, his eyes glancing to the side nervously.

"No…It wasn't, really…" Link looked down at his feet.

"You're an adult now! Why are you still sad about crap like that?" Mido snapped again, waving his small fists at Link. "When are you going to stand up for yourself, like a man?"

"What?" Link took a step back, cocking his head curiously at Mido.

"Jeez! You're such a doormat!" Mido huffed, crossing his arms. "You were always such a dippy loser, a wimp, back at the village. You'd get all upset no matter what anyone said to you. We'd tease you and you'd either cry or not understand a word we said!"

"…" Link blinked a few times.

"…" Mido looked down, a dry laugh escaping his lips. For a moment, he looked amused, not angry. "Seriously…I sometimes wondered why I even bothered with you."

"What are you trying to say?" Link cocked his head again. The rest of the party, including Navi, stayed silent, letting the two continue to talk uninterrupted.

"The only one who never gave up on you or got annoyed with you was Saria." Mido looked off to the side. "You always got so much attention from her. She was always talking about how brave and special you were. I used to think it was because she was as ditzy and oblivious as you were…"

"…" Link looked off to the side, rubbing his arm absently.

"There is something weird about you and it has nothing to do with the fairy." Mido said. "I won't say I ever liked you but…maybe there was a reason Saria paid you more mind than me."

"Saria liked you though!" Link declared. "She always said she liked you…something about you just being a little touchy or something. She always thought you were nice. I always thought she was insane! You were always so mean to me!"

"She….did what?" Mido widened his eyes. "There's no way she'd say anything like that about me. I did nothing but annoy her sometimes, especially in regards to you. I never understood why she wouldn't understand my feelings for her…but I think I do now."

"You mean, hurting her feelings before she came here?" Kaori inquired, earning a nod from the boy.

"She ran off before I could apologize and now she's lost here and I don't know what to do!" Mido's squeaky voice cracked a bit. "What if something happens to her and I don't get to apologize to her! She'll never know how I feel!"

"How do you feel, Mido?" Link asked honestly. Any apprehension in his voice began to disappear as the two continued to reason with each other.

"I…She's special. I wanted to protect her. Out of everyone in the village, I liked her best." Mido's voice was soft, whispery. "I was a real jerk to her sometimes, though. She was so reckless though and she always ran off by herself! We're forest people, but the Lost Woods could be so dangerous at night, what with monster crawling around. And I knew there were some creepy wolf monsters that would roam around the meadows! Saria couldn't defend herself! She was clever, but not strong, and sometimes, she would come back late at night after wasting her time in the woods without telling anyone where she was going or when she'd be back!"

"Saria was bad about that." Link agreed. "I told her bad things would happen! And she called me a scaredy cat!"

"One time, she disappeared for two solid days in those stupid woods, in this meadow. She didn't tell anyone she was leaving, so we all thought something horrible happened! She came back and acted like it was fine that she left on her own and that she hadn't eaten for two days and that all she had done was play that ocarina of hers and talk to the forest spirits or whatever cryptic nonsense she would babble about." Mido seethed. "I would yell at her, but she would get upset and run away. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings or sound like a jerk or something, but I wanted to make sure she wouldn't get hurt! I wanted to make sure no one in the village got hurt, but her especially. She would just say I was trying to act tough!"

"…" Link smiled a bit.

"I didn't want to yell at her like I did or tell her she was wrong all the time and hurt her feelings like that…but…" Mido sniffed a bit. "And now she's lost in here, and I told her something awful would happen one day! I told her she would need help! And yet…she was waiting for you to come back! Why couldn't she deal with what she had and depend on me for a change?"

"…" Link widened his eyes again.

"You weren't there. But she kept insisting you'd come back and save her if something went wrong!" Mido sniffed loudly, some big tears dropping down his cheeks. "I know I could be a jerk a lot of the time, but I was only trying to help, I swear! I was wrong! But…but….You weren't there and there was no guarantee you'd come back anytime soon. Why couldn't she trust me or depend on me for a change? Why couldn't she stop fantasizing and see that there were other people to depend on besides you and those forest spirits she rambled about all the time?"

"Mido!" Link's dopey emotional side got the better of him and he sniffed loudly, too, scooping the boy in a bear hug. Clumsy, uncomfortable and incredibly awkward the embrace was, but it was thoughtful and kind. Mido coughed a bit and wiggled for a minutes after getting scooped up by the now muscular young man, but relaxed and just burst into tears, muttering under his breath apologies to Saria and Link over and over again.

"Are you feeling okay now?" Katara handed a handkerchief from the item bag to Mido, who wiped down his now flushed face, a bit blotchy from crying.

"Y-yeah…" Mido said, putting the cloth away after a moment.

"Didn't know you had any depth there, squirt." Aya patted him on the head. "We'll find your flaky girlfriend, don't worry."

"This Saria sounds like a real trip." Joey said dryly as they continued their journey through the temple.

"Like a vacation?" Link looked up at Joey.

"Never mind, buddy." Joey patted the boy's shoulder a couple of times.

"You know what?" Mido pointed, stopping for a moment. "You all are sworn to secrecy! If the other children found out their great leader cried like a baby, he'd never live it down! The Great Mido has a reputation to uphold!"

"Yeah, yeah." Navi waved off his request and gestured to continue walking. "Lets go before this chick dies or something."

"You know, you ooze compassion." Joey rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, shut up." Navi remarked back.

"You can ooze compassion? Is it like syrup?" Link asked innocently.

"Syrup?" Aya blinked.

"Pancakes sound wonderful now!" Kaori clapped her hands together.

"We can indulge in pancakes later, when we aren't doing this." Kurama said kindly, though it was clear he was being sarcastic. They continued through another couple of hallways, unlocking another door to find themselves in a large room with grey-blue walls. There was a ledge, and a ladder off to the side, leading to another part of the room, and a Bubble jumping around. Joey got rid of it and they went over to the ledge climbing up and looking at the ladder.

"Okay, ladies first." Joey said, the slightest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. He scooped up Mido, who protested with a squeak and he turned.

"Joey!" Katara glared, fists clenched at her sides.

"What?" Joey said innocently. "I'm just trying to be a gentleman to you lovely ladies. Plus, imagine the view I'd get from down here."

"What kind of view? Like a sunset?" Link jumped forward, missing all of Joey's perverted undertones.

"Not quite, Link." Kurama pulled the boy back a bit.

"Joey! What the hell?" Katara snapped, her hands brushing across her skirt.

"What, we're adults now." Joey said casually, shifting Mido's weight a bit. Mido just blinked in amusing confusion as Joey continued this perverted conversation. It was clear he had no idea what was going on either. Katara elbowed him, causing him to almost drop Mido, but he caught him before he could fall.

"Ow!" Joey whined. "What the heck?'

"You go first!" Katara pointed.

"Owwww." Joey whined again, rubbing his side. Navi flashed her aura in annoyance while Aya just rolled her eyes and Kaori looked down, embarrassed. Kurama rubbed his forehead, holding back Link, who was enthusiastically talking about sunsets and sharks.

"Joey, I think it would be best to go instead, don't you agree?" Kurama intervened.

"Yeah, whatever." Joey began up the ladder. "Worth a try!"

"What are we talking about?" Mido demanded.

"Don't worry yourself, kid." the older blond responded, climbing up and looking down. "Oh well! Got a good look at something, anyways!" Joey smirked, pointing, looking down Katara's shirt.

"I'm going to kill you when you put the kid down!" Katara stomped her foot. After everyone climbed the ladder, Aya had to stop Katara from pouncing on Joey. Instead, she jabbed the young man into the side as hard as she could with her elbow, before hitting him lightly and knocking him to the ground.

"Ah, hell!" Joey groaned, rubbing his side. "Damn, Kat, you bruised me. Chill. Not my fault you're hot now!"

"Kat?" Katara stopped in the middle of her rage.

"Yep. Kat." Joey sat up and grinned. "Hell, I call Kurama 'Red' and Link 'Buddy'. I'm working on nicknames and stuff."

"Okay…" Katara shrugged, deciding it was fine. Joey's innocent nickname, however, was enough to end their battle.

"Now that the lover's quarrel is over, speed it along." Navi fluttered around. "There's a puzzle that needs to be solved."

"What are the arrows on the ground for?" Kaori blinked down that the stone ground.

"Those blocks over there…" Navi gestured. "They need to be pushed along these arrows. Don't know what'll happen, but it's worth a shot."

"OKAY!" Link twisted around a corridor, ready to tackle the puzzle. Kurama and Joey followed, after some time of thinking and moving, they were able to move the blocks along the string of arrows. The large blocks, big chunks of marble with a moon and star carved into them, were heavy but fell neatly into place in a couple of crevices, where they provided a means of reaching another set of ladders that reached to the next level of the room.

"Does that lead to a nifty place full of birds?" Link looked up. "WITH THE MUTANT OWL WHO'S THEIR LEADER?"

"Link, shut up." Navi ordered and the boy did as he was told, a bit unwillingly. They climbed the ladder (without violence this time) and went into another room, where there was a door and two Bubbles hopping around. Joey and Katara disposed of them with them with little problem. Link hopped happily over to the door, opening it.

"Bye Timothy!" Link waved to the key as he stuck it in the door.

"Wait, Timothy?" Joey looked down.

"Yeah. He was a good key. Brave, too." Link smiled fondly as he pulled the door open.

"Not even asking." Joey rolled his eyes. "You are weird, buddy."

"Is that like tuna?"

"Tuna? What?"

"Both of you!" Navi interrupted.

"But I don't' understand the tuna fish!" Link said dramatically.

"I don't understand what he's talking about! I didn't say a thing about tuna!"

"Why are you even trying to question what Link says?" the fairy asked.

"Oh, good point." Joey gave up.

"Yay!" Link stopped caring and darted through the door, bounding into their next obstacle.

**A/n:** Yay, isn't it great Mido is getting a character? I've also tried _really_ hard to ensure that Saria isn't too much of a Mary-sue (because she can totally seem like it). Maybe it's because I need a reason to give Mido some development and it works out perfectly with Saria being kind of a flighty jerk, if a bit unintentionally. It also fuels why Mido was jealous of Link and it gives a reason for them to pave a way for reconciliation. Mido has matured a bit, I think.

As for Link, I'm trying really hard to work on his character. Flaky, dopey, dim, and too enthusiastic for his own good he still is, but I'm trying to tone down some of his stupidity a bit. Later chapters and my MM story depict him as being all of those things and very random, but kind and thoughtful, too, but not downright stupid. He has his moments of insight, but they aren't the puzzle-solving or academic kind. Link's smartness comes from his ability to connect with people. Underneath his dippy exterior, he really is a sweet kid and naïve, but more innocent than any child or pure maiden you'd ever meet.

As for everyone else, I'm making their characters fall in line with their characters later in the story and in my MM story, as well. Navi is grumpy but not as outright mean as she was in the previous story. Aya is still a deadpan snarker, Joey is still a cocky pervert, and Katara is still foul-tempered. The only character I have a _really_ hard time writing and keeping consistent is Kaori. Admittedly, I try not to make her bland or anything, because how I see it, she's the most demure, ladylike and polite one in the party, and a bit spacey, but I don't see her participating as often with the party's sarcastic bantering, since she doesn't like to be as rude. Of course, that also makes her a type of character that directly contrasts everyone else, and to be honest, I still like her character, but she is my least favorite of the main cast to write. I'm _trying _really hard, and as I continue my revamp, its becoming easier to pick out aspects of her personality to like, but it seems like sometimes, she fades into the background and I apologize.

How am I doing so far? Review!


	18. Medallion of Forest Part 3

**A/n: **This chapter is now redone.

**Disclaimer: **Pudding.

**Chapter 18: Medallion of Forest Part 3**

"Aren't we….defying the laws of gravity or somethin'?" Joey asked, wide eyed at their next obstacle. Stretching out before them was a long hallway that twisted around, like a corkscrew. No one seemed to be sure of what to make of it.

"Twissstttyyy." Link didn't really seem to care and just shrugged his shoulders, as if it were normal. The party just started walking along the twisted path, ignoring whatever scientific laws they were breaking. Along the way, they disposed of some more Bubbles.

"Damn things are like ants. Too many of 'em." Joey cursed, the flame in his hand disappearing as they continued walking.

"Stop." Navi commanded and everyone stopped at the fairy's grumpy voice. Link looked up at his companion, who floated around his head in a bored manner. "Be careful in this room. There are monsters here called Wallmasters that hang from the ceilings and drop down on top of you if you aren't paying attention. You _don't_ want to be dragged up to an untimely death, I'm sure."

"Are they friendly?" Link asked hopefully.

"What part of 'untimely death' did you not catch?" Navi looked down at her partner.

"Ohhhh. Death. I get it now." Link shrugged and waltzed into the room anyway.

"That idiot!" Mido growled.

"Now I see why you yelled at him all the time." Aya rolled her eyes and followed as everyone started carefully running through the room. They had to hop over some platforms and decided it best to ignore the fancy blue chest sitting sideways on the wall. After a moment the group passed a room with a staircase, they entered a large circular room. As expected, the doors barred shut.

"Oh, look." Joey formed his sword.

"Charge!" Link ran forward. Despite the dippy tone of his voice, he effortlessly began fighting one of the Stalfos that dropped from the ceiling to ambush them. Mido sat off to the side, lacking in combat experience and watched the group battle. He had to admit to himself that they were no pushovers in a fight. He snapped from his thoughts when he heard Link yelp a bit.

"Crap!" Mido cursed to himself, staring as a Stalfos knocked Link over, catching him off guard. Mido, in random thinking, plucked a stone off the ground and aimed it with his slingshot. A Deku Seed would not be enough to catch the monster's attention, but a small rock would. He shot it off, hitting with good accuracy the monster's arm. It froze and turned and began to stalk towards the boy.

"No you don't!" Aya sliced at the monster now that its guard was down and Link came in from behind, now having gathered his bearings, and got rid of it. Kurama turned with the others, having gotten rid of the other Stalfos. After a moment of awkward silence, a chest appeared in the middle of the room.

"Thanks, Mido!" Link smiled, sheathing his sword. "Stupid monster!"

"Are you okay, Link?" Kaori asked, turning to the young man.

"Dandy!" Link said cheerfully, walking over to the chest and opening it. In his hands were a bow and a quiver full of arrows. "A new toy!"

"Oh, hell." Navi muttered. "You know, I'm lucky he's semi-decent with weaponry or else I'd, like, forbid him from taking these little trinkets we get in the temples."

"Anyone ever venture to guess why these chests magically appear and we get new weapons and stuff?" Aya tapped her chin. "Are these treasures of the temple? And, even if they were, how is the curse on the temple not preventing us from getting it?"

"For that matter, why did Ganondorf not take the treasures for himself?" Katara blinked. "Or, if they are like, sacred relics or something of the temples, how is it right for us to take them?"

"I don't think the whale missed the boomerang or anything." Navi said dryly.

"Navi? Didn't the pokey thing with the stuff belong to someone else, too?" Link made wide hand gestures wildly.

"The sword? Yeah. It was a relic of the Kokiri." Navi responded as if this were no big deal. "Whatever."

"You're a regular thief, Link." Joey laughed, patting the shorter man on the back. "You might as well be a tomb raider or something."

"What's a raider? Does it involve water? Or the color brown?" Link asked.

"No, just….don't worry about it, buddy." Joey smiled a bit. Link put his new weaponry away.

"Regardless, let's backtrack a bit." Kurama said. "There was something about the stairway we passed through earlier that I want to check out."

"Whatever." Aya shrugged her shoulders. The party backtracked as the redhead suggested. Before he could be inquired about it, he pointed to a series of three paintings on the walls at different points in the staircase, with one of the Poes from the beginning of the temple switching from painting to painting.

"Oh, hey!" Mido gestured. "It's one of those ghost things. Why is it in a painting, though?"

"Not gonna ask." Joey turned to Kurama.

"Link, this could be good practice with your new bow." Kurama turned to the young man. "Shoot those paintings when the Poe appears, alright?"

"Gotcha!" Link seemed enthusiastic at the idea of trying out his new toy and he readied his bow, finding it a bit awkward at first, since he had to find a good way to wield it left-handed. After making it work, though, he shot off the bow and, after a few solid tries, all three paintings disappeared and the Poe appeared downstairs.

"I'm going to have to get used to this thing." Link put the bow away.

"You aren't much of a long range fighter, Link, so it isn't a big deal that you didn't get it right away." Katara chirped. "Kaori can help you, I'm sure."

"Of course." Kaori smiled.

"Let's worry about training later and move on now." Navi urged. They party went down and easily defeated the Poe that came from the paintings and they pocketed the key it gave up. They moved on past the room where they received the bow and found they had to repeat the exact same process with another Poe, which they easily defeated.

"Hey!" Navi stopped everyone. "Before we unlock this and go on, let's go back and take a closer look at that twisted up corridor." Everyone followed the fairy's suggestion and went back to the beginning. Link bounded through the room with the Wallmasters with the same blind ease he did before, while everyone else took some semblance of caution to avoid getting attacked. Navi ordered them back to the room before the corridor, floating up to an eye switch placed carefully above to the entrance.

"Remember these from the other places we went to?" Navi inquired, flying back over to Link's head.

"Oh, yeah. They were everywhere." Kaori tapped her chin with a thin finger. "They were in the Deku Tree and the cavern, if I remember correctly."

"I forgot if there were any in the whale, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were." Aya stated. "It had everything else."

"I try to forget that entire part of our adventure, honestly." Katara rolled her eyes, shifting her weight to one leg and crossing her arms.

"Whale? What in Farore's name did you guys do?" Mido spoke up, lifting his eyebrows in surprise at the mention of being inside a whale.

"A lot of stuff that involved near death experiences and the intestines of a whale." Aya responded. "Whatever."

"I love reminiscing as much as the next, but can we please shoot that switch?" Navi whacked Link on the head, prompting the young man to whip out the bow and let fly an arrow that barely missed the eye switch. A couple of tries later, he got it. Following almost immediately after, a there was a noise that started as a simple creak, like a door being opened, but soon, like a musical crescendo, the creaking grew into a loud, obnoxious rumbling, soon shaking the floor and sending everyone crashing to the ground in a tangled, uncomfortable heap.

"Where is my face?" Link said, though it was muffled and barely audible.

"Joey, move your hand an inch higher and I will kill you." Katara seethed.

"My hand isn't moving _anywhere_." Joey's voice was laced with mischief.

"I still don't know where my face is." Link said matter-of-factly, shifting his head a bit and letting out a sputtering cough, gaining some breath, but still dazed.

"Well, that was unfortunate." Kurama stood up, brushing himself off. He turned and helped Aya up, who was about as unfazed by it all. Wrinkling out her skirt, she bent over and plucked up Mido, standing him back upright. Mido shook his head a couple of times but regained his senses. Joey finally stood up as well, though his hand had landed dangerously close to parts of Katara she didn't want him touching. Link's face had landed in Kaori's chest, though it was all rather innocent since Link didn't understand AT ALL the perverted nature behind it.

"Well, on the plus side, Kaori barely has a chest to begin with, so it's not like he did anything wrong-OW!" Joey's said, at first calm but interrupted by a hard jab to the rib cage, courtesy of Katara.

"…" Kaori finally stood up with Link, her face bright red but otherwise fine.

"Whatever." Navi said, snapping everyone back into attention. "Let's discuss Kaori's bust size later. We've got bigger fish to fry, don't we?"

"Let's n-not d-discuss that!" Kaori stammered.

"I'd say she's an A." Joey shrugged.

"Yeah, probably." Aya agreed. "You know, from a woman's point of view."

"I don't need to hear that from either gender!" Kaori stomped her foot.

"Are we going to have fish for dinner or something?" Link cocked his head, his bright blue puppy eyes shining with innocence.

"Sure, why not." Navi grumpily said. "Corridor. Ganondorf. Temple. Distressed damsel. Any of this ring a bell?"

"The corridor is now untwisted, if anyone cares." Kurama interjected smoothly. "I figured I'd do something useful during all of that."

"Oh, so we won't be defying gravity anymore?" Joey turned.

"Yes. Indeed."

The conversation shifted effortlessly and the party continued on, walking through the now untwisted corridor. Mido was beginning to grow used to the party's lack of concern for their surroundings, trusting that at least Kurama knew what he was doing most of the time. Navi grumpily led them along, listening to Link ramble about how good fish would taste if they were purple and had sprinkles while Kaori still blushed furiously from the previous conversation about her bust size. Mido didn't quite understand the meaning of "bust size" but went along with it and continued to watch the fairy leading them along. Once past the once twisted hallway, they came back to the room with the Wallmasters and were able to reach the blue chest that once sat on the walls.

"What is this pretty thing? Is it a key?" Link asked, looking up at Navi for some kind of confirmation. The fairy circled the key a couple of times- it was small but eye catching, being solid gold with a ruby at the center. The prongs on the end coupled with the meticulous detail told Navi that it was definitely a key.

"I'd sound like you if I said it was a key to something important." Navi said sarcastically, though her quip flew over Link's head as he shrugged and pocketed the key.

The party found that to be slightly anticlimactic as they continued through the temple. There were a few more menial puzzles that stood as obstacles for them, but the party tackled them with a sense of boredom and routine. The Forest Temple had proven a challenge for them, there was no doubt about it, but the party's previous experience and the newfound perception that adulthood had granted them made the smaller puzzles in their path simply a brainteaser and not a real threat.

The temple itself had a unique beauty to it at first glance, but the group had discovered that its real beauty had been marred by hundreds of years without maintenance. There was a musty, unclean smell that slipped into their noses and bursts of dust danced in the air, sparkling by the dim light that poked through holes in the corners. In a way, they felt trapped. The dull grey colors and the moss that blanketed the walls only made it feel claustrophobic and repetitive, and the lack of light made them feel blind to an extent. There was a constant feeling of being watched. It was sad, really. What was clearly supposed to be a gorgeous altar to the spirits of the forest was nothing more than dark, imposing prison for those who wandered in. The carefree, motherly spirits of nature were lost by years without care, dirtied by lack of attention.

"This place sucks." Joey whined as they passed through another boring corridor. They had defeated another of the Poe sisters, so Navi had identified them, and passed through another bizarre puzzle involving fire and pillars, an experience they chose to forget after Link's graceless near-death-experience. It was during this near-death-experience that Navi decided Link would be dead if it weren't for the constant intervention of Kurama.

"I thought the Forest Temple was supposed to be majestic. At least that's what Saria and the Great Deku Tree always said." Mido piped, rubbing his eyes to rid them of dust that had gotten in them. "This isn't majestic at all. It's dirty and nasty."

"Not nasty, per se." Katara said, wiping a finger along the wall as they walked, looking at the dust that stuck to it. "It might have been such at _some_ point."

"I assume that no one has bothered to take care of it." Kurama shrugged.

"Given that the dominant race in this forest consists of a bunch of children, I'm not too surprised it isn't maintained very well." Aya said. "No matter how old they may actually be, you can't expect children to be able to maintain this place very well."

"The staircase leading up to it was broken off, anyways." Navi shook head as she flew along near Link. "The only way up here before the hookshot was climbing that nasty looking tree. Din only knows how safe climbing that rotting thing would be."

"I feel bad." Link frowned. "This place is so sad. I wish it were happier."

"I'm surprised you haven't done something weird yet and said that this place was happy and full of rainbows or something. You do that everywhere else." Navi's voice was flat.

"I can't make a sad place happy!" Link defended.

"Dude, I think this place is too boring and depressing even for Link to make exciting." Joey waved a hand.

"Saria loves this place, though." Mido shook his head, focusing on the hallway stretching out ahead of him.

"Can we just establish that she was weird?" Navi said, her aura flickering.

"Hey!" Mido took that to offense. "She wasn't that weird!"

"Hey, you're not denying it either." Navi's smirk was practically visible beneath her aura.

"Let's just stop talking about it!" Mido's face was red. Navi, satisfied that she had gotten to him like that, continued flying onward. After walking for what seemed like forever, riddled with random conversation, the party arrived in a large room with a black-and-white checkered floor.

"There's something about this room that seems suspicious." Navi said.

"What gives you that idea?" Joey took a step forward, the clack of his boot echoing across the seemingly empty room.

"Everything will be great!" Link blindly went forward, clearly ready to continue on. A loud rumbling sound stopped the young man in his tracks, only for a moment before continuing on.

"Link! Stop!" Navi called out. Joey, closer than everyone else, reached out a long arm and latched onto the shorter man, stopping him in his tracks. Just in time, too, because the ceiling, it seemed, came crashing to the floor. It made a huge shockwave that almost knocked everyone over had they not prepared themselves for it. After a moment, the ceiling rose back up before falling a few minutes later, again, in a steady pattern.

"Holy….crap." Joey froze, still gripping Link's arm. The young man's blue eyes were wide in shock, staring at the ceiling rising and falling inches from him.

"Who the hell designs these crappy dungeons?" Aya seethed, regaining herself.

"I have no clue. What is with the falling ceiling?" Katara spoke up. "How are we supposed to get through? There is a door on the other side, right?"

"I see one, yes." Kurama was as calm as expected, hands slipped into his pockets in a casual fashion as he observed the situation.

"It's like a game, isn't it?" Link smiled widely, clearly no longer fazed by the ceiling-almost-crushing-him thing. Readying his sword, the young man bounded farther into the room.

"Okay, we're going to lose our leader because he's going to get crushed by a falling ceiling. Fantastic." Aya pinched the bridge of her nose to ward off a headache. "Don't we need him?"

"Minor details." Navi said angrily, annoyed at her partner. "Just follow him!"

Joey scooped up Mido as he shot forward, throwing the boy over his shoulder as an afterthought. Mido's eyes were a bit wide at the sudden gesture and he wiggled around in panic after realizing that he could get crushed by a falling ceiling with people he barely knew. Joey muttered annoyed curses, looking up at the ceiling and slipping into a small corner. He covered Mido and pressed himself against the wall. The ceiling fell but they were fine, spared by a hole in the ceiling.

"The ceiling has holes!" Joey called back out, checking for Link and finding him waving from another spot, the body of a big Skulltula dissipating beside him. Kurama waved back in acknowledgment and he followed suit. Soon, everyone was darting back and forth, avoiding obvious death in a rushed manner. Link came skidding to the other side of the room, flanked by Joey and Mido. Soon, everyone but Kaori was present on the other side of the room.

"Please tell me she didn't get squished." Aya asked, semi-sarcastically, though it was an honest concern.

"She didn't." Kurama pointed. "It seemed like she froze up or something."

"Kaori! Speed it along!" Aya called out. "You're not going to get anywhere by just standing there!"

"I…" Kaori shook her head, trying to regain her senses.

"Kaori!" Navi scolded. Kaori started running again, this time not paying too much attention to anything but wanting to be safe. She was making some good progress towards a hole, but she tripped. Crashing to the ground, she squeaked before wincing at the pain building up in her hands and knees. She tried to get back up, but slipped again, her body still shocked.

"Delay isn't good in a situation like this." Kurama said urgently. Being the fastest, he took a step forward to run in after Kaori, but a green blur to his right stopped him.

"Link! You idiot!" Navi yelled.

"Kaori!" Link lunged forward, sliding and grabbing her arm. He jerked up and skidded into a corner that had a hole. After a moment, he snatched her arm up again and ran, practically dragging her to the other side before the ceiling fell again. After they were all clear, Kaori collapsed to the ground again, frazzled.

"T-thank you." Kaori huffed out, rubbing her knees as she sat on the cold tile.

"You could have been killed, you know!" Aya bent down next to Kaori, narrowing her dark eyes a bit. "Pay more attention to what you're doing!"

"I'm sorry!" Kaori shot back. "I was scared and…then you guys all got there before I did."

"So, you're physically the slowest out of the group." Navi stated. "Big deal. You were also the last one to attempt that anyway. I don't see how this contributed to the whole 'scared-oh-crap-I-tripped-thing'."

"No, it doesn't." Kaori stood back up. "I was just frightened. I'm sorry."

"Whatever." Aya stood back up as well. "No big deal. Link saved you anyways."

"Kaori, are you sure you're okay?" Link cocked his head. He didn't seem fazed or upset about the situation at all.

"I'm fine." Kaori poked her fingers together nervously. "I just feel…embarrassed. And a little useless right now."

"Useless?" Aya asked.

"Well, I don't feel like I do much." Kaori looked down. "I'm so quiet compared to all of you and….I'm slower than all of you. And Link can use the same weapon I can now, so what can I do?"

"Yeah, you're quiet. Big deal. But you're smarter than Link and you can use a bow better than he can, anyways. You're still here. No need to freeze up and almost die because you're sad everyone did something faster than you." Navi said, half reassuringly and half in a scolding voice. "Chill and stop thinking so much about it. There's nothing to worry about in the first place."

"Okay, Navi. You're right." Kaori looked down, scratching her foot along the ground.

"It's fine, Kaori!" Link smiled. "Let's go now!" Reassured by Link's optimism, the party dropped it and moved on with the rest of the temple. They arrived in a room with a giant portrait of on the Poe sisters. Kaori shot it this time, per Navi's suggestion of speeding their little operation along and a set of blocks fell to the ground. Hopping onto a stage-like platform, Kurama looked around.

"The blocks are just pieces of the portrait we just shot. I'll stand here. Link! You and Joey push them where I tell you to, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, Red." Joey said and the two began pushing and maneuvering until the blocks formed the picture. The picture disappeared in a puff of flames and the Poe emerged, attacking them. As with the other Poes they fought, they disposed of it rather easily.

"Damn, are we almost done with this place?" Joey rubbed the back of his head.

"Door!" Link cheerfully called out and opened it, blindly charging through.

"Ugh."

The party came out on a balcony overlooking the lobby area of the temple. Floating around the center of the room was the last of the Poe sisters. It seemed a bit sad but very angry and it paced mindlessly back and forth before locking eyes with Link. It made angry gestures, waving its lantern around, making angry squeaky sounds before pointing a long, accusing finger at Link.

"Uh…What?" Joey propped his elbows up on the balcony railing.

"It's pissed off." Navi was blunt. "We DID kinda kill its family."

"I feel bad, actually." Kaori sighed. "Why did we kill them again?"

"Because they were in our way. And we couldn't get any further if we hadn't. Oh. And they wanted to kill us. You know. Usual dungeon stuff." Navi didn't seem to care that much, though this was hardly surprising with the fairy. "Besides, Poes are dead to begin with. We didn't kill them. We can't kill something that's dead."

"Well, you have a point. What did we do with them then?" Kaori asked.

"I don't care." Navi stated. "Does it matter?"

"Maybe they are the ones who created the temple. Or managed it at some point." Katara mused. "It could fit wit that rumor of the Lost Woods being cursed and all."

"It could!" Link clapped. "And that explains why they want to kill us!"

"Good. We have their motive. Now jump off the damn balcony so we can get rid of that one to. She wants a fight, after all." The group hopped off and the angry Poe lunged toward them, trapping them in a circle of copies of herself.

"The real one is spinning!" Mido called out, shooting off a deku seed from his slingshot that hit the Poe straight on. She disappeared for a moment before reappearing and repeating the same process. It didn't take long before the party was able to dispose of the Poe sister, who let out a pathetic squeak before dissipating into purple smoke. Immediately after, the elevator that disappeared when they first entered the temple rose back up. Silently, the party bordered the elevator, a little at a time due to the elevator's cramped fit, and they arrived in a large basement area. There were huge blocks sticking out from the wall, like handles, and there were a bunch of rooms that had bars blocking the entrance.

"Dead end? Or something?" Joey looked around the room.

"It's a puzzle." Kurama said. "Navi, can we push those blocks?"

"Yeah." Navi confirmed, investigating the wall. "I think it might act like a turntable."

"What's a turn table? Wait. You can spin tables? Why was I uninformed of this? Dinner would be so much cooler if we could spin it!" Link seemed honestly put-off.

"You are offended by the strangest things." The fairy rolled her eyes.

"How about you boys, minus Mido over here, push the blocks then?" Aya suggested, a hand on her hip.

"Alrighty." Joey cracked his knuckles and the three guys pooled their strength together to push the blocks. The wall went spinning, just as Navi predicted, and it opened up on of the barred doors in the process.

"That's going to make me dizzy." Aya stuck her tongue out.

"Tell me about it!" Katara agreed. The girls ran in and found a switch, tripping it and coming back out. Realizing they had a good system going on, they continued the process of letting the guys push the wall and the letting the girls trip the switches. Before long, all the barred doors were gone, revealing a huge, ominous hall way with a door at the end. The huge door was locked with thick chains and a gold lock.

"It seems that gold key we found has a purpose after all." Kurama put his hands in his pockets.

"Huh?" Link looked up at the redhead.

"The gold key's design matches that of the gold lock." Kurama explained. "What would you call this key then, Navi? It certainly can't be lumped with the rest of the conventional silver keys we found around the temple."

"Boss key?" Navi suggested. "A 'boss', as I've been calling all the rest of the really powerful enemies you've faced, is a higher, more respected class of enemy. Therefore, it is a 'boss' key. Get it?"

"Cool." Katara smiled. "So beyond that door is the source of this curse on the temple, right?"

"But the temple will still be boring and creepy." Joey muttered, earning a rib-jab from Katara. "What-ow-it's-true." He barely choked out.

"Joey!"

"Um…Everyone?" Kaori caught everyone's attention.

"Yeah?" Aya turned to her friend, lifting an eyebrow at her friend's sudden conversation-breaker.

"I'm really sorry about earlier." Kaori folded her arms in front of her politely. "I didn't mean to sound all self-pitying or annoying. I know I must have sounded like a total dip."

"You did, but we are good friends and looked past that." Aya stated dryly.

"Seriously!" Kaori shook her head at the sarcasm. "I don't think my mentality has caught up with my growth spurt. All of this is really shocking. I think I let that get the better of me. I feel bad."

"Whatever. Quit the weird apologies, already." Navi teased. "We weren't angry. A moment of carelessness is hardly unusual for anyone in this group besides Kurama."

"Alright, I'll stop." Kaori laughed.

"Um, guys?" Mido said. "We…we will save Saria, right?"

"What makes you doubt otherwise, squirt?" Joey looked to the Kokiri boy.

"I…um…I just want to make sure, okay!" Mido huffed. "I have to make sure you guys are cut out for the job!"

"We are, we are." Aya waved a hand. "The giant whale's intestines, remember? After that, I think we can safely say we can handle this."

"We're never going to let that go, are we?" Navi asked dryly, now sitting on Link's head. "We keep bringing that up, like, all the time."

"No. I won't forget it." Aya crossed her arms.

"I will gladly forget about it." Katara glanced to the side angrily. Everyone thought it was a good idea to not talk about the whale debacle any further.

"You all ready?" Navi asked. "Standing here talking isn't saving Saria, remember?"

"Nope, it's not." Joey seemed pumped. "Let's go."

"Yay!" Link pulled out the boss key, holding it up to admire its unique sparkle. "I'm ready! Let's go!"

**A/n:** Did I have Kaori lampshade and acknowledge her own uselessness as a character? Why, yes, I did. If I can't find a way to make her a better character, I might was well have her acknowledge it.

That aside, yes, I know this revamp is taking forever. It's called writer's block. And real life. Take it up with those things, not me. I'M MAKING EXCUSES HOORAY.

Any-hoo, review and stuff.


	19. Medallion of Forest Part 4

**A/n: **I still don't have anything to say…

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that's not mine… If you don't believe me, go look it up…

**Chapter 19: Medallion of Forest Part 4**

"OHMYDINWE'REGONNADIE."

Those were the reassuring words Link screamed to the party, which really didn't do much to boost their morale, but at least it made more sense that half the other stuff he said. He had reason to freak out, though. Upon passing through the door with the boss key, they came upon a large art gallery, full of the exact same painting of a dark, lonely road. Things took a sharp turn when they felt a strong presence behind them, revealing itself to be what seemed to be Ganondorf and his horse.

"Something about this seems off." Kurama calmly replied, taking a few steps back. He had a firm grasp on Mido, who seemed too shocked to utter any words at all.

"IDON'TCAREWE'RESTILLGONNADIE." Link shook his head wildly.

"You pathetic fools." The words escaped Ganondorf smoothly, almost charismatically, to a point where he didn't even seem like he was insulting them. He let out a small blast of energy that flew inches past Link's head, leaving a huge, smoldering black spot on the stone walls, as if he were making some kind of point.

"Red, if you have any idea what's going on, now's the time to speak up!" Joey cursed, turning around to the redhead, who narrowed his eyes at their enemy.

"I don't have to speak up." Kurama pointed. "Watch." Joey, with the rest of the group, turned and saw Ganondorf's face covered with a giant, mocking smirk. Letting out an amused laugh, he brought his fingers to his face. There was a sickening peeling sound, and to the shock of the rest of the party, "Ganondorf" ripped off his face, revealing a skull face. The only things that still made sense on his face were the smirk and a pair of glowing orbs where his eyes once were.

"I'm going to be sick." Katara said, sticking her tongue out.

"A phantom!" Navi's serious tone broke everyone (minus Kurama, per usual) out of their nauseous stupor. "No wonder he sounded like Ganondorf and had his aura!"

"What are you talking about?" Link squeaked out, rolling out of the way of a massive, crackling blast that the "phantom" Ganondorf threw out.

"Phantoms are created from the energy of people. Someone who creates a phantom essentially creates a replica of themselves." Navi explained, fluttering alongside her partner as he dodged spells.

"Ganondorf created a replica of himself?" Aya asked, running to a corner of the room and pulling out her sword. "Why did he do that?"

"Because he's a lazy bastard that wants to screw with you all! What else?" Navi sarcastically responded. "There's a catch. Phantoms only carry half the power of their creators. They're also incredibly unstable." Phantom Ganondorf, growing tired of tossing spells around, jumped on his horse, also a phantom apparently judging by the skull face it now had, and rode off, disappearing into one of the gallery's paintings.

"This gallery is pretty big." Katara said, tossing some water around in her hands, readying herself. "Do we keep an eye out for whichever painting he comes out of?"

"Split up." Kurama started to run off, plucking up Mido in the process. "We'll be harder to catch and can cover more paintings that way!"

"Okie-dokie!" Link whipped out the Master Sword and bounded off towards a painting. Everyone scattered.

"Got him!" Kaori called out, the sound of an arrow whizzing through the air catching everyone's attention. There was a moan from the phantom before he hopped off into another painting. The party repeated this process, catching the phantom as he rode out of paintings, before finally, the blows became too much for the horse. The horse let out a horrible whinny before dissipating into thick black smoke.

"Return his attacks some how!" Navi ordered Link, who was clumsily dodging another massive blast of dark magic.

"How?" Link turned to his partner.

"Pretend it's a game." Navi said. "You're good at that."

"A game?" Link's eyes lit up with excitement. "Of course!" Link stood his ground and waited for Phantom Ganondorf's next attack. Once the orb of energy shot towards him, Link whacked it back with his sword. Soon, the too were tossing the orb back and forth. Finally, Link caught the phantom off guard, and he sunk to the ground. The rest of the party jumped on this opportunity and attacked him when he was down.

"Good idea, folks. Do that again! Until he's down, Link!" Navi ordered. The young man listened to his partner and began the same game with Phantom Ganondorf. While the rest of the party readied their attacks, Mido sat off to the side watching. He knew he'd be nothing more than a nuisance in this battle, even if their foe really was just a replica of the real Evil King, like Navi explained. In the meantime, he wandered to a far corner of the gallery, deciding to put his efforts into something else productive- finding Saria.

"Where could she be in this gallery? He has to have her." Mido mumbled to himself, poking his head carefully around a corner. He took a few more steps, trying to look at painting hidden in a dark corner of the gallery. His fairy flew around, giving him some light. "Ahhh! Saria!"

"Okay, Link, last time! His energy level is low!" Navi whispered. Link nodded, still in battle mode and he bounced back the attack at Phantom Ganondorf. Finally, the man slouched over on the ground and Joey took the honors of delivering the final blow. Throwing his hands to his head, Phantom Ganondorf let out a painful, shrill scream. Apologies and begging for mercy escaped his unmoving mouth and became lost on horrible screams that eventually faded into dry coughing.

"What the hell?" Joey took a step back. Phantom Ganondorf's body slumped over onto the ground lifelessly, parts of his skin and face chipping away as black smoke at away at his limbs. The body rose into the lifelessly as a purple portal appeared beneath the body. Ganondorf's deep voice suddenly echoed in the room.

"You kids did pretty well." Ganondorf praised. "I should have figured a useless phantom like this wouldn't be enough to stop you guys."

"Why did you do that then?" Navi inquired. "A phantom is weak!"

"I was testing you." Ganondorf answered quickly. "The last time I saw you all, you were nothing but a bunch of powerless brats. I was merely testing your strength. Thank you for the show, though. Losing was entirely worth it this time around."

"What did you to Saria?" Link stepped forward.

"That kid? Oh, she's fine." Ganondorf seemed to shrug off Link's question. "Anyways, have fun with your little mission. It will do you no good in the end anyways."

"Aren't you obligated to say that?" Aya asked.

"Hm…Perhaps." Ganondorf pondered the question before laughing again. "I mean it. It's worthless in the end. You all won't survive, even if you do succeed in gathering all of the Sages. I'm not too concerned."

"Wait!" Navi jerked forward. "What do you mean they'll all die? Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself, or are you obligated to tell us that, too?"

"I'm not telling you this because I'm making myself feel better, you little insect." Ganondorf stated, earning a small string of muttered curses from Navi. "The bond of companions is more of a hindrance than strength, I'd say. In the end, that same thing you think is giving you power will be the very reason you won't be able to defeat me. But you all don't know anything yet, do you?"

"What the hell are you saying?" Joey narrowed his eyes.

"Waste of time." Ganondorf said, ignoring Joey. "We will chat again, kids. By that time, I want you to be ready." The phantom screamed and was ripped through the portal before it vanished, leaving the room in an eerie, uncomfortable silence.

"What did he mean by all of that?" Katara turned, understandably a little freaked out.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mido's scream broke the party out of their stupor. Saving their chat for later, the party turned the corner to see Mido staring wide-eyed at a painting lit up barely by Mido's fairy. Joey lit up a flame and walked closer to the painting to see what Mido was freaking out about and illuminated the corner. The painting, it seemed, was one of Saria. The painting was simple but Saria looked terrified and trapped, her eyes wide with fear and her mouth open, like she was calling for help.

"Oh. There's where she is." Navi didn't seem too fazed by this and broke the moment with it. She floated around the painting before speaking again. "She's trapped inside the painting. We defeated the phantom, though, so I assume she'll be free here in a moment."

"It's just…" Mido calmed down. "Scary. I don't like seeing her like that."

"I don't either." Link frowned. "I'm sure she'll be fine, though! Navi said she would be!"

"Okay…" Mido shook his head and looked back up at the painting, which began glowing. In a small flash, the painting was blank. "Wait! Where did Saria go?"

"One of those portals!" Katara grabbed Mido.

"Well, she _is_ who we were looking for." Navi said. "Link! Portal!"

"Portal? What about tree branches?" Link blinked confusedly. Joey just shoved him into the portal, cutting off Link's random inquiry and the blue portal's light engulfed their vision. After their vision cleared, they were in the Chamber of Sages, as expected. Standing in front of them on a green pedestal was Saria. She seemed relieved and a bit surprised, rubbing her head delicately with her small hands as if trying to clear away a frustrating headache that had formed. She seemed so small to the party after their time skip, and Link had to kneel down to be at eye level with her. Tiny and petite, the pedestal she stood one was too big for her and she looked up at the party with wide blue eyes. In a way, the title of Sage seemed ill-fitting for her and she herself seemed to acknowledge that fact with the way she lowered her hands and looked around the seemingly endless room and its sparkling waters, tapping her foot against the green, metallic surface of the platform. She seemed a bit scared.

"Mido!" Katara was kneeling down on her own pedestal, cradling an unconscious Mido. He didn't seem hurt or sick and had a peaceful expression, like he was sleeping.

"He…Mido can't hear any of this." Saria said after a moment of silence. "Only those who are chosen by the Goddesses…Those who understand the situation at hand to its fullest can listen to the words spoken in this chamber. Mido is not one of those people…So he is asleep, per Mr. Rauru's orders."

"Probably best if he isn't awake for any of this anyways." Kurama brushed some hair out of his face while he spoke. "Saria seems to be a touchy subject for him."

"Of course." Saria let out a small, empty laugh. "Link, everyone, thank you so much for helping me."

"Saria! You shouldn't have gone into that temple in the first place!" Link scolded, fists clenched at this sides. No one stopped him from scolding the girl- he was right. "You could have been killed. If you had been killed, what would have happened? I…Mido…It would be sad!"

"I realize that." Saria looked down. "But the spirits needed help and that's all that matters to me. There isn't a need for you to scold me like this, Link. Mido did plenty of that already." She seemed the slightest bit bitter.

"He scolded you because you ran off into danger like that!" Link responded.

"I…." Saria shook her head, wiping her eyes. "I know…"

"Why do you sound so upset, then? Are you angry at him?" Link cocked his head, his voice softening.

"Because I'm scared!" Saria choked out, her voice cracking up. She covered her eyes while fat, big tears fell down her cheeks. "Mido was upset with me and then I got lost in the temple even though I should have known what I was doing! And now look at me!"

"You're a sage." Navi said calmly, sitting on Link's head. "You're regular life is over, right?"

"Mr. Rauru said that since I'm a Sage, I can't be with my friends anymore!" Saria cried. "After all this time, I can't be with you, Link! I can't hear about your adventures from your point of view, only what I hear from Mr. Rauru! I can't…I can't get to know your friends! I can't live in the village anymore! I'm stuck here!"

"Saria!" Link wanted to comfort her, but the two remained separated by the glittering waters beneath them.

"I know I treated Mido like a jerk!" Saria sputtered out, each word wet with more tears and coughing. "I was just so worried about you! I was afraid you couldn't take care of yourself and I didn't know what to make of these friends of yours! And I was wrong to doubt you!"

"Saria, I'm fine! My friends are here! They're good people!" Link reassured her. "Everything will be okay now!"

"No it won't!" Saria was kneeling on her platform now. "I wasted all that time. And now I can't make it up to him…..But…."

"…" the party waited for her to calm down.

"I'm sorry." Saria stood back up, wiping away her tears. Her eyes were still red and puffy, signaling that she was still upset but was making some kind of inner resolve. "I have a job now, don't I? I can help you now, Link. And your friends. I can…protect the forest. Maybe I can make it up to him that way."

"Good thinking, Saria!" Link did a thumbs-up at his old friend.

"Thank you again, everyone. I apologize for that. You shouldn't have had to see me in such an emotional state." Saria shook her head, regaining her unique air of maturity before giggling a bit. "The forest is safe again! I'll be assisting you from here from now on! This means, though, that we can never exist in the same world, Link."

"What does that…mean?" Link cocked his head curiously.

"I'm a Sage now, Link! Sages exist here in the Sacred Realm. We don't live in your world. We're different now, Link." Saria's eyes softened, as if she were coming to terms with this realization. "This doesn't mean we aren't friends, though, right?"

"Hm…Of course!" Link smiled widely.

"Good. Take this medallion as a token of our bond, Link!" Saria held her hand out in front of her and she focused, forming a green orb that floated over to Link. He held out his hands and received the orb, the light forming into a small medallion of a bright green color. "Now, Link! Go! You all have more Sages to find!" Nodding in response, everyone's vision began to grow black.

"Tell Mido I'm sorry for me, please? Tell him I'm really, really sorry. I never meant to hurt his feelings. Remember to tell him that for me, okay?"

After Saria's last words and a few minutes of relaxed unconsciousness, Link shot up from his spot on the ground. It took a moment for him to comprehend the comfortable, emerald grass beneath him or the bright, blue sky that smiled down at him from above. Standing up, along with the rest of the party besides Mido, who was still asleep, they realized they were in the Great Deku Tree's meadow.

"Great Deku Tree…" Navi said quietly, paying her respects. The huge tree still stood solemnly in the middle of the large meadow, its dark grey color and dying leaves still an eye sore on the beautiful meadow it stood in.

"What's this thing down here?" Joey knelt down, his amber eyes looking at a couple of long green leaves that poked out of the ground, standing taller than the rest of the grass. It wasn't a simple weed, though. Something unusual made it stick out.

"Ooohh!" Link knelt down beside Joey. "Do you think this thing will help us make dinner? We did say we were having fish, right?"

"Link, shut up." Navi ordered.

"But you said we'd have fish! I want fish for dinner! Remember the sprinkles? You have to remember the sprinkles!" Link whined. Just as an argument was about to ensue between the two, the little leaves made a springing sound and sudden shot up out of the ground, knocking Link, Navi and Joey all back. Standing in place of the little leaves was a small, baby tree with a friendly face.

"Okay, what?" Aya crossed her arms, walking closer to get a better look at the new tree.

"Damn it, a little warning would have been nice." Joey stood up, rubbing his bottom.

"Tree!" Link cheered, barely fazed by it all. "What is this tree, Navi?"

"It's…the Great Deku Tree. I think." Navi seemed confused, as well. "It senses like him, anyways."

"Wait…Wasn't he…dead?" Joey pointed to the dead tree behind them.

"He was." Navi answered. "Um…A new Great Deku Tree, then? You guys did break the curse on the forest."

"Hey! It's my job to explain!" The tree's squeaky voice caught everyone off guard. "Ha, just kidding! I'm not angry or anything!"

"It's actually kind of cute." Kaori chirped, kneeling down in front of it.

"You are correct, though, Navi." the tree chimed, its voice high-pitched and cheerful. "After you all and Saria broke the curse on the forest, I was able to finally grow and flourish! This forest can live in peace, yet again."

"Hey, I don't recall Saria doing anything." Aya rolled her eyes, getting nudged on the elbow by Kaori.

"Don't be so rude, Aya!" Kaori frowned.

"Well, it's true." Aya defended.

"So, you're the new tree guy?" Link seemed happy. "I didn't know trees could have babies! I learn something new everyday!"

"I have a lot to explain to you all, though. Have a seat!" the tree suggested. Everyone welcomed a chance to relax. The entire temple and the battle had been quite hard on them, leading them to believe that Mido's unconsciousness was half-Rauru, half-exhaustion. It was amusing, actually, the way the party so un-heroically sprawled out on the grass in front of the new Deku Tree. Navi plopped down on Link's head, tired as well from her seemingly endless explanations on the secrets of the Forest Temple. Joey was lying on the ground completely, while Link was lazily sprawled out like some kind of corpse. Kurama and the girls were much more polite about it.

"Okay, so what do you have to explain to us?" Navi asked for the group, just as curious as the rest about whatever it was the tree had to tell them. She knew that the Great Deku Tree knew about Link's destiny and everyone else's involvement but never had the chance to explain it them. If this was the Great Deku Tree's next form, than this little sprout certainly knew everything that the forest deity couldn't explain.

"First, I'm going to address Link." the sprout started. Link sat up upon hearing his name, causing Navi to adjust her position, but she didn't seem to mind too much.

"What about Link?" Link asked.

"Well, what I'm about to explain should be relatively obvious by now, Link." the sprout said. "You were raised here in the forest, so it's safe to assume you were a Kokiri, right?"

"But Kokiri don't grow up." Kurama stated, rubbing the back of his neck to get rid of some kinks. "Link can't be a Kokiri if he is an adult now, right?"

"Of course! Smart young man, you are." the sprout cheered. "Yes, Link. You are Hylian, not Kokiri! That's why you can grow up and your friends here in the village didn't!" Link nodded, a bit shocked by it all but seeming to understand. Even Link, in all his dense glory, saw that coming. It wasn't a surprise to anyone.

"Figured that out after the time skip." Navi said casually. "How did he end up in your care, though?"

"What I'm about to tell you, you might not like." the sprout said solemnly to Link. "You see, Link, seventeen years ago, a war raged across Hyrule. A young, beautiful noblewoman was caught up in the mix, lost and scared in the war zone while her husband, a high ranking officer in the Royal Family's military, fought the battles at the frontline."

"Noble….Isn't that…like…rich? Wealthy?" Link lurched forward, searching for the right words and meaning. "Noble people are high class people right? Important people?"

"Yes!" the sprout reassured, answering Link's babbling questions with admirable patience. "Your parents were of the upper class. Stuck in the middle of a dangerous war zone with her newborn baby boy, the woman awaited news from her husband and received it in the form of a death notice. Her husband had died in battle and the frontlines of the war were getting closer. Finally, the battles made their way to the safe haven of the civilians and the town was attacked. Fleeing by horseback with her baby, she escaped."

"…" Link seemed intrigued by this story the tree's sprout was weaving.

"She had nowhere to go, though. War had left everyone scared and there was no safe place for her to take her baby boy for keeping." the tree said sadly. "The only place left untouched by the war was the forest and it was cursed. But the weather was terrible. It was storming and the temperature was bitter and cold and it was windy. Her escape from the city was a hard one. She was injured and weak. In this state and with the weather as cold and unbearable as it was, she knew she and her baby wouldn't last. So she took the chance and entered the forest."

"She…took me to the forest to save me?" Link asked.

"Indeed." the sprout answered. "She wandered deep into the forest and found the Great Deku Tree. The war outside had made him incredibly wary of outsiders, but this young lady was severely injured and very weak, and her baby seemed to be in no better condition. The woman begged him to protect her child, saying she couldn't do it herself. Sensing this child was one of great destiny, agreed to it and the woman passed away. After that point, her baby was raised among the Kokiri as one of their own, until the day came that he would go out to face his destiny."

"…" Link looked down. "My parents are both dead then? I have no family to look for?"

"Not that I'm aware of." the sprout sighed. "Of course, you might have extended family that survived the war. But the war killed both of your parents and you don't have any siblings that I'm aware of. I'm sorry, Link."

"No, its fine. You're right! I may have other family I don't know of yet!" Link chimed, his eyes a little watery but otherwise bright with his usual enthusiasm. "Besides, I guess I didn't know either of them. It's hard to be sad…"

"What else do you have to say?" Navi, finding it best to get off the topic of Link's dead parents, urged the Deku Tree to continue with something else. "You said there was a lot to explain, right?"

"Yes!" the sprout caught the tone of Navi's voice and moved on. "Now, I believe there is a lot to clear up about your destiny and the purpose of you all."

"Us?" Joey gestured to the non-native members of the party. "Yeah. Zelda and old dude didn't clear much up for us, aside from tell us that we have powers and give us these snazzy necklaces." Joey lifted up his red pendent, dangling casually from his neck. He took it off and lifted it above him, admiring for a moment the sparkles of the sun's light bouncing off of it before turning back to the sprout.

"Yep, yep!" the sprout continued. "You all are bonded in more ways that one. Together, you all are the ones destined to save Hyrule! Exciting, right?"

"Thrilling." Aya said dryly.

"You see, Link is the Hero of Time. His destiny is to wield the power of the Master Sword and lead the rebellion against Ganondorf, ultimately purifying this land of evil's influence with the power of the Sage's at his hand." the sprout stated. "On the other hand, you five act as the opposites of the Sages."

"Opposites of the Sages?" Katara lifted an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"You see, the Sages are the guardians of Hyrule and act as watchers." the sprout went on. "They 'watch' Hyrule and guard it from the safe haven of the Sacred Realm, keeping the seal on the world of darkness and keeping the land safe of bad influences. Of course, they are bound to the Sacred Realm and cannot leave, making their job tricky if the door to the Sacred Realm is opened and evil invades. You saw how that went five years ago."

"There were no Sages, right?" Joey asked. "If we need to find the Sages now, doesn't that mean the Sages didn't exist five years ago?"

"Not necessarily. The Sages were not awakened." the sprout said. "The country was kind of peaceful before Ganondorf came around, too. When the Sages fully awaken, only then do they become bound to the Sacred Realm and lose the ability to exist in the world of the living. Essentially, they exist as beings higher than mortals. They lose the ability to live normal lives."

"Okay, so the Sages are otherworldly guardians that awaken when they are needed, then?" Navi cleared up.

"Precisely!" the sprout smiled. "You guys are the exact opposite then. I did say that the Sages, and by default the Triforce and everything else that exists in the Sacred Realm, are incredibly vulnerable, didn't I?"

"Wait! Is that why the bad man was able to get in?" Link turned to Kurama. "Pie Man said that he got in when we opened the door, right?"

"Pie Man?" Navi looked down.

"Rauru or whatever his name was." Link said, as if this should have been obvious. "He's crusty, like pie. So he's Pie Man!"

"Yes, he did say that." Kurama clarified for Link before turning back to the sprout.

"So, it makes sense that the Sacred Realm needs guardians, too." the sprout said. "If Link is the warrior and the Sages guard the people, then the Sacred Realm and Triforce need guardians, too. That's what you all are!"

"…" the party took that in and waited for him to continue, unsure of what to make of it.

"You all are what legend refers to as 'The Spirits'." the sprout said. "The Sprits' job is to guard the Sacred Realm and ensure that the Triforce is safe. To accomplish your goal now, you have to travel with Link and make sure he awakens the Sages and saves the Triforce, so that you can set right the Sacred Realm, as its watchers."

"So we're traveling with Link to make sure everything is fixed again?" Kaori said to herself. "Makes sense."

"The Spirits are aided by the power of the elements. As Rauru explained to you earlier, they are the hearts of the elements." the sprout explained. "You all are the elements. You could say that the Sages and the Spirits guard each other. While the Sages guard the land the Spirits live in, they guard the land the Sages live in."

"How did we become something so important, though, when we don't even come from this world?" Katara asked, leaning forward.

"For that matter, what happened to the previous Sages and Spirits?" Kurama asked as well.

"The fate of the previous Sages isn't very well-known." the sprout said. "Rauru is from the original group of Sages, the ones who built the Temple of Light and the Temple of Time. He has no mortal body anymore. He is merely a wandering spirit. No one recorded the fate of the previous Sages, however."

"Are there any theories ore something?" Navi asked. Link sat, listening eagerly, taking in every word the sprout said with careful thoughtfulness.

"There are seven real Sages." the sprout offered an explanation. "The Seventh Sage is the leader of the Sages, with no real elemental affiliation. Their title is simply 'leader', and the leader _should_ be a member of the Royal Family, so we can assume that Princess Zelda is the leader in this instance. The previous sages are probably the Sages that Rauru is from, the originals. The temples weren't built with the creation of this world and the Sacred Realm wasn't discovered right away, after all.

Common theories are that the leader simply died, being a member of the Royal Family. Being the leader, the do not face the same rules the other six sages have to face. As royalty, they must exist in the mortal world. It is theorized that the other sages disappeared after being unable to take being imprisoned in the Sacred Realm and died of their own will. But no one knows. If it went unwritten, then their deaths must have been shameful ones. It would explain why there were no Sages at the time of Ganondorf's takeover."

"Okay, so the previous sages went crazy and kept us from having guardians, so it made Ganondorf's life easier?" Navi rolled her eyes. "Fantastic. Though, understandable on some level."

"Now, the previous group of Spirits died." the sprout started again. "They died protecting the Sacred Realm, actually. The first group Spirits were the originals, existing around the same time as the original Sages. After the Sages disappeared, some kind of horrible battle erupted, resulting in the Spirits having to unleash the full strength of their powers to protect the Sacred Realm. This action cost them their lives."

"They died?" Kaori squeaked.

"Exactly." the spirit confirmed. "The power they gave to the Sacred Realm to protect it faded over time and their pendants became forgotten relics of the Royal Family. As the time of destiny and reform approached, the Goddesses sought out the new Spirits, their search eventually leading them to you all, on your own worlds."

"I…I actually forget sometimes that you all aren't from this world." Link said sheepishly, poking the ground.

"I forget sometimes, too, buddy." Joey waved his hand nonchalantly. "Too much has happened for me to care."

"The title of Sprits isn't necessarily hereditary. You all aren't descended from the previous Spirits. The title goes to one who has the heart to do the job, those who are strong enough. You all have that honor. As such, you were taken here to aid Hyrule in its time of need."

"So…This is kind of like how Link has the heart to be the Hero of Time. The whole we're-important-without-realizing-it thing?" Aya asked and the sprout responded with a confirming squeak.

"I'm telling you all of this as a warning." the sprout earned the party's full attention at that. "There's a good chance that protecting the Sacred Realm could result in your deaths yet again. If it comes down to it and the damage is too much, you could make the same sacrifice that the Spirits before you made and you could lose your lives. This would throw off the cycle of balance again, but it could happen. Hyrule is in quite a state right now. It isn't impossible at all that you all could die or that the Sages could disappear from the weight of ridding this world of Ganondorf's evil."

"Wait, hold on. We could die?" Joey exclaimed.

"It is a possibility. Please keep this in mind as you continue forth in your journey." the sprout seemed done with his explanation. "You all may rest here in the village as long as you'd like. Please, relax and regain your strength before you continue."

The party decided it best to take up the tree's offer and got up. Link, seemingly catatonic from the stress of the explanations, barely got up. Kurama, still keeping his trademark calm, gently began leading the young man out of the village, a look of sympathy in his eyes. Joey picked up the still-unconscious Mido and in silence, they went back to Link's old house, ready to take shelter for the evening and contemplate all they had just heard.

**A/n:** I really didn't do much to this chapter except thicken the explanation, rewrite so it didn't suck and spread out the battle with Ganondorf. I didn't know what else to do with Saria, so I gave her some character development in the way of her freak out and then took the painting-prison thing from the manga, since it made a lot of sense and was interesting.

I knocked out Mido for everything since it would be problematic if he heard everything and it makes sense for Rauru to knock him out since he doesn't have any right or reason to be deeply involved in the Sage debacle. I also fleshed out the Spirit explanation to make it more dramatic and worked a little with the Sages, since we're not told a lot about them in the first place.

Review, please!


	20. Conversation to Pass the Time

**A/n: **This chapter is now revamped.

**Disclaimer: **(insert something funny here)

**Chapter 20: Conversation to Pass the Time**

The hours following the victory at the Forest Temple and the new Deku Tree's explanation afterwards had been long, dreadful and terribly awkward. The multiple things that had been thrown at them, from Link's origins to everyone else's purpose in Hyrule, had been overwhelming, to say the least, and no one had a good way to break the silence and lighten the mood without seeming insensitive or inappropriate. They had gone back to Mido's house so he could rest more comfortably and had left a small note for him explaining Saria's last words to him, in case they didn't stick around long enough to see him. After that, they had gone back to Link's tree house. Though, the small size of the furniture had forced them to camp out on the floors. Still, it was better than nothing and it was more comfortable than camping out.

"Is anyone going to say anything?" Joey finally broke the silence. The small size of _everything_ in Kokiri Village made everything Joey did awkward, given his size, but the young man had managed to make due with what he was given. He had taken off of his jacket and leaned against the somewhat dusty walls of the old house, seeming more cool and casual than he actually felt. "This silence is really weird, you know?"

"Well, silence is a rarity with Link around." Navi said from her place atop a nightstand. She had stolen Link's hat and had bunched it up in a comfortable little nest for herself.

"…" Link didn't seem like himself at the moment. His eyes were clouded over in deep thought and he stared unblinkingly at the ground below where he sat, unsure and full of thought.

"Link?" Kaori poked him lightly. "Link, come on."

"Um…" Link's attention was caught by Kaori but words didn't come easily to him. "About what the sprout said…All of it….It was too much to take in."

"It was a little unfair that he laid it all down on you guys like that." Navi stated. "However, there was no other convenient time to tell you. You all had a right to know everything that he told you."

"Are you all going to die?" Link blurted suddenly, earning a few concerned and confused looks from everyone else. "He said that there was a possibility you guys could die and that the Sages could disappear, too. He said the previous Spirits all died because of the damage that had been done. Things are really bad right now, and getting worse. Are you all going to die, too?"

"That's not something we can predict, Link." Kurama was calm and his voice was gentle. While sometimes Kurama's calmness seemed annoying and ill-fitting of the situations they got themselves in, it was one thing that everyone could agree was a key to keeping the group levelheaded.

"Don't sound so calm about it!" Link snapped. Really, Link seemed afraid. "You guys…could…."

"From a logical standpoint, it would be reasonable to assume the damage done to Hyrule and the Sacred Realm could result in our deaths, since it could probably sap all of our powers, and the Sages', fixing it." Kurama explained.

"I don't want to be logical! I want you all to be alive!" Link choked.

"From an emotional standpoint, however, I'd say I'd rather we all survive." Kurama finished, calming Link down somewhat. "However, logically or emotionally, there isn't much we can do to predict the future."

"You know….Sometimes I really forgot you didn't come from my world." Link poked his fingers together sheepishly. "It's selfish, actually. I forgot you all had lives back in your own worlds."

"Home seems so far away now." Katara mused as she took her hair over her shoulder and began playing with it. "It feels so…foreign now."

"Indeed." Kurama let out a small laugh. "If I were to go back now all of a sudden, I don't think I would be able to adjust."

"This journey has come a long way." Aya let out a huge sigh. "I was just a normal kid before I was taken here. Kaori and I were just planning out another sleepover."

"It was going to be our last big get-together before school started back up again." Kaori giggled. "We were going to pig out on junk food and watch movies all night."

"We had the house to ourselves because my parents were away." Aya leaned back. "I just thought we were going to be typical teenagers all night. I didn't expect_ that_ to happen."

"Oh yeah!" Joey turned to the two. "You both come from the same world, don't you? You all were friends already."

"Yep. We went to the same school." Aya nodded. "We were just heading into our last year of junior high."

"I was already in high school." Joey leaned forward, propping his elbows up on his knees. "Wasn't much different from middle school, though. Still boring as hell."

"I was in high school as well. However, I went to a private school." Kurama smiled. "My school didn't have nearly as many students as a public school."

"Yeah, well you were one of those smart kids, weren't you?" Joey smirked. "I'm not surprised you went to one of those fancy schools."

"Call it what you will." Kurama shrugged. "It was what my mother wanted for me."

"I should probably feel weird that I have no idea what you're talking about." Katara said wryly. "Your world must have been…modern?"

"What was your world like?" Kaori asked.

"It wasn't like what you all are describing. There were four different races, each associated with one of the four main elements." Katara explained. "I came from the Water Tribe. In my world, there were 'benders' who could control the elements. I was a 'water bender'."

"So…People could use magic freely in your world then?" Link asked, now intrigued by everyone else's explanation of their own worlds. He seemed to be lightening up a bit.

"Yep." Katara nodded. "At the time that I was taken, I was traveling with my older brother and a friend of mine who could control all four elements. He was a special person called the 'Avatar'. Some kind of spiritual being, if you will." Katara smiled fondly. "I…kinda of miss both of them, actually. My brother and I argued a lot, but he was a good big brother. And my friend…"

"What about this friend of yours?" Joey leaned forward some more, poking Katara in the side mischievously. There was an amusing curiosity in his eyes.

"He was a little younger than me but I'm pretty sure he had a crush on me." Katara shook her head. "I…think I used to return those feelings but I've been away from home for so long…But what about you, Joey?"

"Me?" Joey answered before pondering the question. "I had some friends, but I was kinda the sidekick in our group. The 'underdog', I guess. I miss them, but I have made friends here. It's not as if I've been lonely this entire time."

"So, you miss your friends but you like us, too?" Navi asked.

"Yep." Joey shook his head. "I'm kinda not the underdog anymore. A nice feeling, I'd say."

"I had some friends as well, but I'm sure they've found a way to move on without me." Kurama smiled. "My mother was supposed to be married shortly before I was taken away, so I'm sure she's fine as well. My stepfather, I guess I should call him, is a good man."

"I feel bad." Aya looked down. "My parents came home to find my room completely trashed and no Kaori or me. I'd hate to think that they filed missing person reports and thought we were abducted or something."

"Oh, dear. I never thought of that." Kaori squeaked. "My poor mother and father. They must be so worried!"

"There would be no point going back now." Aya looked to the side. "We're eighteen now. We'd have graduated high school by now!"

"Dude, tell me about it." Joey stated dryly. "I'm so behind on my studies and I was _already_ behind on them."

"You don't seem like a diligent learner." Katara shrugged.

"You guys miss your home worlds, don't you?" Link laughed, happy to listen to the group's reminiscing. "I'm sorry you have to help me. Or else you could be home with your friends and family right now."

"We never said we hated being here." Aya turned. "Yeah, there are a lot of complications from it. I really do miss my family and the rest of my friends that Kaori and I had back home, but I have you all now."

"I like being here." Kaori smiled. "I miss my parents, and the friends like Aya said, but I like you all. You all have become dear friends to me now."

"I miss both my brother and my friend. And my grandmother." Katara put a hand to her choker necklace gently. "But, like Kaori said, I like you all and I've taken a liking to Hyrule, too."

"You know, this world ain't so bad." Joey laughed out loud. "If I'm stuck here and might have to die for this world, I'm glad I at least like it."

"What does the word 'nude' mean?" Link asked curiously after a few minutes of silence.

"Wait…what?" Joey turned. "Where the hell did that come from?"

"I heard it once but I don't know what it means." Link answered honestly.

"Nude refers to being unclothed." Kurama answered simply, not fazed by Link's random question.

"Oh, so if I took my clothes off, I'd be nude?" Link asked. "Cool! Then can I go nude? It'd be so comfortable!"

"No!" Navi ordered. "No. Just no."

"What? Un….clothed?" Kaori's face brightened to a shade of red close to Kurama's hair. "No! That would be s-s-so inappropriate!"

"Link!" Navi looked towards her partner with exasperation.

"I had to ask!" Link declared. "I needed to know because I reminded me of a dream I had the other night about deku scrubs!"

"What?" Navi new she would regret asking.

"Well, in this dream there were dancing deku scrubs in tutus and Ganondorf singing opera with a headdress made of cheese on. Oh, and there was a scarecrow statue saying 'I'm a teapot' over and over again." Link explained as if this were normal. "It was a cool dream, really."

"This is our sign to go to bed for the evening." Kurama said. "I can see that everything is taking its toll on us. It's best to go to bed in good spirits."

"Okay!" Link smiled broadly.

"And no nudity." Navi finished. "Link. Bed." The party went to sleep on that note. However, sleep didn't seem to last long for some of them. In the middle of the night, Katara got up and left the house, as did Kurama, probably to go for walks. Shortly after, Joey got up to chase after Katara and Aya decided a walk was a good idea, as well. In the midst of it, Kaori and Link were still asleep, as was Navi.

"Where…" Link sat up groggily. The dark purple sky outside told him it was still deep in the middle of the night. He rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes, turning to a mirror and wincing at his disheveled self. His hair was poking up in every direction and his tunic hung baggily on him, since he took his belts off. "Kaori? Are you awake, kind of?"

"Um…" Kaori pulled herself up, still clearly sleepy. "Where did everyone go?"

"Dunno." Link laid back down, not too concerned. "They'll be back eventually."

"I guess." Kaori blushed a bit. She had gotten used to sleeping with all of them in one room, but it was more awkward now that they were adults. While his tunic was still baggy, his broad, muscular shoulders were still prominent. He was an idiot, but at least he was handsome.

"I'm sorry for acting like I did today." Link said. "I didn't mean to get all snappy. Can I admit something to you, though, Kaori?"

"What is it, Link?" Kaori leaned forward.

"I'm scared. Really scared. Of losing you guys. Of not having any friends. Of being alone." Link looked out the window. "I'm scared of everything."

"Everything will be fine, Link." Kaori shook her head. "We have each other. At least you're with people who understand.

"You're right. I guess we should just focus on all the other stuff we have to do! And, hey, Kaori?" Link said, staring up at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come back to him. "Now that we're alone, can I say something to you?"

"Um…" Kaori's face blushed red. "Yeah, what?"

"Remember what you said back at the Forest Temple?" Link turned to her, his blue eyes bright and innocent.

"Yes." Kaori turned on her side to get a better look at the young man.

"I never thought you were useless." Link smiled at her, a bright, honest smile. "Remember that, okay?"

"…" Kaori smiled brightly at him back. "Thank you. Link. A lot." She shook her head.

"Sleepy time!" Link yawned and drifted back into slumber. Kaori turned around and smiled softly to herself.

"Thank you, Link."

_To Aya and Kurama…_

Aya had never meant to run into the mysterious redhead in the middle of her nightly walk, though she should have expected no less given how small the village was. Still, she didn't want to interrupt him but he didn't seem to mind her company as they both stood on of the hills overlooking the village, near the entrance to the Lost Woods.

"I take it you couldn't sleep either?" Aya inquired, crossing her arms.

"Not really." Kurama shook his head, laughing a bit. "I'm sure I need to rest. After all, that temple really did a number on us. But everything the Deku Sprout told us, plus all that reminiscing, has my mind going."

"You actually seemed sort of emotional when you talked about your mother." Aya said sarcastically. "It was nice to see something come out of you that wasn't that inhuman calm of yours."

"I suppose." Kurama smiled. "I apologize. This is usually how I am most of the time. However, my mother is an exception to that."

"How worried do you think she is?" Aya cocked her head.

"Quite. She'll be fine. She's safe." Kurama reassured himself. "Talking about it isn't going to change anything. Aya?"

"Yes?"

"How worried is your family?"

"Very." Aya's eyes went to the ground. "I'm sure a lot has happened with my family since I've been gone. We were pretty tight-knit, you know? There's a feeling I have like I abandoned them or something. If I went back, I'd be so out of the loop on what's going on with their lives. Part of me doesn't want to so I can avoid all of that awkwardness."

"You're right. To go home now after all of this would be too awkward for any of us. Though, I'm sure everything will work itself out eventually." Kurama smiled. "And Aya?"

"Yeah?" She turned.

"Thank you for your concern." Kurama started walking back towards the village. "Though, I'd have to say, I take that 'inhuman' comment to offense. I would like to think that my so-called 'inhuman' calmness has kept us alive." It was easy to tell he was being sarcastic.

"Hey, don't go waving your status as voice of reason like you're better than us or something." Aya rolled her eyes, following the redhead with the same even tone of sarcasm. "As if."

_To Joey and Katara…_

"Is this the first time we've been around each other without arguing?" Joey asked, sitting next to Katara in a quiet corner of the village.

"Yes. And it won't last long, I'm sure." Katara rubbed her forehead, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Hey, don't start something." Joey pointed. "This is a good moment I've got started here."

"Whatever. You're so loud and obnoxious; you can't keep a moment quiet very long." Katara said dryly, rolling her eyes.

"Hey!" Joey whined. "I'm not loud and obnoxious! You're just mean and touchy!"

"I am not! You're insensitive!"

"And you're a jerk!"

"Oh yeah? I'm a jerk? Pot, kettle, black!"

"Okay, stop this!" Joey waved his hands. "I'm not here to get into another one of our famous fights. I'm here to ask if you're okay."

"What?" Katara blinked.

"After mentioning that grandma of yours, you got all teary eyed." Joey shrugged. "Just thought I'd ask if you're okay. Did your grandma give you that necklace?"

"It…was my mother's." Katara looked at the water in front of her, her reflection bouncing off the surface of the pond. "My grandma gave it to her and she gave it to me. My mother….she's dead."

"Ohhhhh." Joey rubbed the back of his neck. "I won't ask for details or anythin'." Joey shook his head, letting silence take them both for a minute while he fished around for the right words.

"She was killed by the Fire Nation, one of the races on my world. There was a war." Katara explained simply. "It's over now. I can't do anything about it. But I have this necklace. I just feel bad because my grandma doesn't have me now."

"She's fine." Joey reassured. "You've got stuff to do here. Make her proud and help this world. I'm sure your brother and your little buddy got things worked out in your world."

"Yeah. I should focus on what's going on now." Katara seemed happy to reminisce about her grandma for awhile. "Joey?"

"Huh?"

"Let's not go back for awhile." Katara laughed. "I think I just want to hang out here."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Joey leaned back against the grass. "Joey's feeling sensitive and caring right now."

"Yeah, whatever."

_The next morning…_

Early the next morning, the party had cleaned up, eaten and gathered up again. They had silently decided to put the topic of their possible deaths, as well as a slew of other depressing topics, on the back burner for the time being while they focused on the journey ahead of them. It took a few hours of contemplation, but everyone pulled themselves together and were back to being same whacky group of travelers everyone knew and loved. They decided to head out of Kokiri Village immediately in the morning, and after giving a proper goodbye to Mido, who thanked them for giving him Saria's last words, they were on their horses once again, trotting through the fields of Hyrule.

"It sucks that Ganondorf screwed up this place." Aya said, looking around. "This field was kinda pretty before the time skip."

"Where are we headed to exactly?" Katara asked.

"To Teapot Land, of course!" Link said cheerfully, earning a bunch of confused expressions from his comrade.

"Right now, we're headed in the direction of the castle town." Kurama answered. Katara, smoothly ignoring Link. "We're making good time, so we should be coming upon it pretty soon."

"Why do we need to go back to the Temple of Time?" Joey asked.

"To meet Captain Teapot! Duh!" Link pointed dramatically. "He's the leader of the teapots. I totally wanna get his autograph!"

"I kinda sense Sheik in that direction." Navi said. "But there's something I want to check out at the Temple of Time."

"What is it?" Kaori turned to the fairy, who floated alongside everyone else.

"You know that huge platform-like thing sitting right in front of the Forest Temple?" Navi asked, earning a nod from everyone but Link (who was saying something about butter and how it would clog up Captain Teapot's spout or something). "It had the same symbol as the Forest Sage. I think that the 'Minuet of Forest' that Sheik taught Link acts as some kind of teleportation. Playing the song takes you to that specific platform."

"Makes lots of sense." Kurama nodded. "What brought you to this conclusion?"

"Lots of thinking." Navi answered. "Nothing special. But there's a pad just like it in the Temple of Time, but it has the symbol of the Sage of Light on it. There's probably a song like it that can take us to the Temple of Time, too."

"And you think Sheik is waiting there for us?" Katara turned.

"Yep."

"Captain Teapot?" Link was wiggling excitedly on Epona, apparently thrilled at the idea of going to "Teapot Land", wherever that was. After a little while, they arrived at the castle town. Link jumped off Epona in sheer excitement, bounding mindlessly into the ruins.

"I really wonder sometimes why the goddesses chose _him_ to be the Hero of Time." Navi grumbled as the group ran in after him.

"Link, don't just run blindly into a city full of life-sucking zombies!" Aya yelled after him. Link was already halfway through the square and not a single ReDead seemed aware of his existence.

"That kid has the luck of the goddesses!" Navi cursed. "Seriously." The rest of the party avoided the ReDeads and followed their excited leader into the temple. He had stopped upon entering, seeming to wait for the rest of the group.

"Isn't Teapot Land a peaceful place?" Link asked dreamily.

"If by 'peaceful', you mean smelly and full of death." Aya rubbed her forehead. The party walked back to the room where the Master Sword was. Waiting patiently for them was Sheik, standing with his arms crossed. His red eyes glanced over the party before resting on Link.

"Captain Teapot!" Link cheered suddenly, leaping over to the quiet Sheikah and scooping him up into a huge monster hug. Sheik's visible eye widened with shock at this random gesture and he just stared up at the Hero of Time in confusion. Link was quite a bit more muscular than the slender man and Sheik didn't have much wiggle room or any way to return the awkward gesture if he wanted to. He just patiently waited for Link to release him from the near-strangle hold.

"Um." Sheik brushed himself off, regaining his composure.

"Oh, Captain Teapot!" Link laughed. "It's so nice to see you've been protecting the Golden Teapot of Justice for as long as you have! Thank you so much! Can I have your autograph?" Link rambled.

"Captain Teapot?" Navi asked, annoyed. "His name is Sheik! Call him by his name!"

"Noooooo. His name is Captain Teapot. He has it written all over him. Duh." Link pointed to the young man, his voice stern and matter-of-fact.

"What exactly is going on here?" Sheik placed a hand on his hip, lifting an annoyed eyebrow. "What is he talking about?"

"We have no clue." Joey shook his head, amused at Link.

"Do you have a new song to teach me today, Captain Teapot?" Link smiled. "Is it the LULLABY OF TEABAGS? You know! Your super-awesome theme song?"

"Dumbass! Navi bonked the boy on the head, earning a pathetic moan.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww." Link rubbed the back of his head. "I was just asking. How cool would it be to learn Captain Teapot's theme song?"

"Quit calling riddle boy over here 'Captain Teapot'. Call him Sheik." Navi groaned. "You're losing credibility as a hero, Link."

"He had credibility?" Aya lifted an eyebrow.

"I'm trying to make a point here." Navi responded.

"Anyways." Sheik cleared his throat, demanding attention. "I'm glad you all found your way back here."

"Thanks for the warning that we were supposed to come back here in the first place." Aya rolled her eyes.

"Link, you hold the Master Sword and the Ocarina of Time in your hands. With these tools in your arsenal, you have time itself to command." Sheik went on without interruption. "To return to your time as a child, just place the Master Sword back in its pedestals. With that in mind, you can go back and forth between the past and this future as many times as you wish."

"…" Navi kept Link quiet enough to listen to Sheiks explanation, and they waited for him to continue.

"Now, pull out your ocarina, Link." Sheik ordered, pulling out his harp. Navi bonked on the head again, and the young man whimpered while he pulled out his trademark instrument. "Let me teach you the melody that can bring you back to this temple whenever you wish. The 'Prelude of Light'!"

Link brought the ocarina to his lips and waited patiently, poking an eye open to wait for Sheik's cue. Without a minute to spare, Sheik danced right into the melody he was teaching, plucking notes one by one in a lively, optimistic waltz. It was kind of like a kind of serene melody and the pair played the music with the same enthusiasm. In this moment, Sheik didn't seem calm and mysterious, but cheerful, in a strange way, as he exchanged musical cues with Link wordlessly and without gestures. The duet made the perfect music partners, Sheik's careful concentration and Link's boundless enthusiasm waltzing together in the same perfect time of a pair of ballroom dancers- perfect, proper, and incredibly flawless.

"You two should make a career outta that." Joey joked.

"Captain Teapot can do everything." Link smiled. "He is the overlord of all things tea-related after all. And everyone knows that tea is perfect, too. He's our messiah!"

"…" everyone in the room, specifically Sheik, stared at the young man with obvious confusion (though Sheik also seemed a little freaked out, but no one could really blame him).

"Anyways…" Sheik continued into another one of his cryptic explanations. "All of you are fully aware of your duties now, are you not? With this in mind, you know how much the fate of this world depends on your success."

"No pressure or anything." Aya rolled her eyes, earning her a scolding look from Kaori.

"If the Goddesses chose you, then you must be very worthy of such responsibilities." the thin man mused, taking a few steps back. His crimson eyes scanned over them again. "There is something unusual about all of you, something unique that binds you all together. I have utmost faith in your abilities."

"…" the group listened carefully.

"Your duties as heroes of this world will bring about many trials for you." Sheik said simply, his voice and expression unreadable. "Only going forward will help you understand." Sheik gave the party little time for reaction. In a flurry of movement and a flash of blinding light, the mysterious man was gone.

"Captain Teapot is gone again." Link shook his head in disappointment. "And here I thought we'd finally learn the secrets of the Golden Teapot of Justice!"

"Ignoring whatever Link's talking about." Aya turned the rest of the group. "What do we do now? We learned that song. What's our next clue?"

"Thinking about the tale Sheik told us…" Kurama pondered.

"Captain Teapot told us a tale?" Link asked.

"He did what?" Joey asked at the same time.

"He told us a tale giving us clues to the locations of the temples." Kurama explained, though clearly he was the only one (besides probably Navi) who actually remembered the story in depth. This wasn't surprising, really. "The first temple was located in a deep forest- the Lost Woods. So, we have that one covered. The tale suggested the second one was located in a volcano."

"Death Mountain Crater, probably." Navi clarified.

"Sounds like that's right up my alley." Joey cracked his knuckles.

"Fun." Katara said blandly.

"Death Mountain Crater isn't exactly the easiest place to mess around in if you're not Joey." Navi said, floating around Link's head. "Joey has the powers of fire on his side. You all don't have that luxury."

"If we stop and see the Gorons, would they be able to help us out?" Katara lifted a hand.

"Probably. The Fire Temple is their place of worship, after all." the fairy seemed to think that was a good idea. "There's supposed to be special types of clothing the Gorons make for Hylians to wear in the crater without dying. Or something. I don't know. Darunia will probably help us out, though."

"The ominous cloud of fire hanging above Death Mountain doesn't give me a good feeling." Aya said as the group left the temple. She pointed up to Death Mountain for emphasis, looking up at a shining, flashing cloud of red and orange that lit up the dark skies above the tall mountain.

"If the forest was in such horrible shape, I can't imagine what's going on with the Gorons." Navi sounded annoyed. "We all know how well they handle problems. We only met them last time in the middle of a giant starvation crisis."

"Do you mean the rock people are probably in trouble, too?" Link looked up at Navi.

"No doubt about it, kiddo." Navi answered. "You should honestly just come to expect this crap by now."

"That every area we come across with be screwed up in the most catastrophic way possible, with area worse than the last?" Aya turned and earned a flicker of acknowledgement from Navi.

"We have to go save the rock people then! They eat rocks!" Link pointed. "To the tall, pointy thing in the distance!"

Sighing in unison, the party trailed after their leader, now with a new destination in mind.

**A/n:** There. This chapter was hard to revamp. While this chapter was amusing in its original form, a lot of its sheer ZOMGRANDOM-ness was so out there and bizarre that it didn't really fit the rest of the story so far. I've updated Link's character to not be _ quite_ as blatantly stupid, just incredibly random and a bit whacky, which is why some of his lines still worked.

This chapter was a breather chapter, so I took advantage of that to work on character interaction more. It gave me a chance to show Link's more thoughtful, observant side in his conversation with Kaori, and it gave me a chance to do more with Kurama and Aya. I actually didn't alter some of the lines too much, especially towards the end because they worked but needed a little coordination.

Review please!


	21. Medallion of Fire Part 1

**A/n: **So… I don't have anything to say…Woo…So, let's just move on…

**Disclaimer: **Why do I even bother?

**Chapter 21: Medallion of Fire Part 1**

The cucco's cry called through Kakariko…A new day was beginning… There was a loss of silence as the villagers started off their usual days… In the midst of it all, in the inn, the heroes slowly awoke (which was very difficult, considering the effort needed to awake a couple of certain blonds.)

"What?" Link said for the twentieth time in a row… He had a half-dazed look on his face; as if he were only a quarter awake…

"You look like the walking dead…" Navi commented, staring at her partner…

"I'm dead?" Link perked up a bit…

"No…It's just an expression…" Navi said.

"What's an expression?" Link cocked his head in confusion.

"Never mind…" Navi sighed in defeat.

"What are we doing again?" Link asked, now a bit perkier…

"We're going to Death Mountain…" Kaori said, turning to Link.

"Oh…The tall, pointy thing in the distance?" Link pointed.

"Yes…" the group all responded in unison, as they had answered that question about a hundred times since they established they were going there in the first place.

"Okay…We're off…" Joey declared. The group trudged up the steps and past some houses… Then, the freely walked by the now-unguarded gates… Now, they were traversing up the steep paths to the Goron City…

"Look out…" Navi warned in her usual unfazed voice.

"Huh?" the group said in unison.

"Look in front of you…" Navi said.

"Wait…Boulder!" Kurama said.

"Wait…Shit!" Joey cursed loudly, and slammed himself against the mountain walls, along with the rest of the group…The huge boulder rolled past them just as they went against the wall…

"Damn fairy!" Joey cursed with a vein throbbing in his forehead. "Why didn't you tell us sooner? We could have run over, and Hyrule needs us…"

"I didn't feel like it…" Navi smirked slightly.

"Fairy!" Joey looked like a wild animal ready to pounce on its prey…

"Joey!" Katara snapped, and elbowed the Fire Spirit in the ribs… Joey yelped, and huddled over…

"Ow…" Joey whined, and rose back to his feet.

"No killing the fairy…" Katara ordered. "We need Navi…"

"And besides, hurt me, and I'll sic my fairy friends on your ass…" Navi commented, now seated upon Link's head, as usual.

"Okay, okay…" Joey muttered some incoherent things under his breath…

"Shall we move on now?" Kurama asked, staring between Joey and Navi.

"I've been ready…" Navi said.

"Yeah, dude…I'm ready!" Joey smiled, and the group headed up the rest of the trail, avoiding incoming boulders doing so… Soon, the travelers had arrived at the entrance to Goron City…

"You know what's weird?" Aya turned.

"Huh?" Joey turned.

"I see no Gorons hanging around…Last time we came here I saw a bunch of them…" Aya stared.

"Now that I think about it, you're right…" Kaori stared a bit worriedly.

"There in Teapot Land!" Link cheered.

"The place you dubbed 'Teapot Land' isn't exactly a pleasant place…" Navi commented.

"Oh yeah…The dead bodies and the dead-walking things…" Link mused, with his hand on his neck. "Never mind…"

"Whatever the case may be, we might want to go…If we stall any longer, something bad may actually happen…" Kurama warned.

"Let's go then…"Joey said, and the heroes wandered up the steps…Once passing the tunnel, the group arrived in the familiar stone city… But something was amiss…There was an eerie silence, aside from a rolling sound… There were no Gorons at the entrance, and the city seemed darker…

"Why is it so…desolate in here?" Katara asked, looking around.

"We better get a closer look…" Kurama suggested. The rest nodded, and they traversed down some steps… Looking around, they saw broken pots, tables, and other shattered objects scattered about… Walking to the second level, the group saw blood on the walls, along with cracks…The torches in the city were all out, aside from a few… The entrances to Darunia's room and the shop were sealed shut…

"Look out." Kurama warned, and pointed to a tiny "boulder" racing towards them…  
"What's with all da boulders?" Joey complained, side-stepping…

"…It's not a boulder! It's a Goron…" Kurama concluded… The Goron rolled by, but was stopped by Joey calling it…

"Hey! Goron dude!" Joey called. "We need your help!"

"No! You're Ganondorf's minions!" The little Goron raced by, and into a tunnel…

"Do we look like Ganondorf's minions?" Aya asked sarcastically.

"Apparently…" Navi rolled her eyes…  
"Wouldn't he at least have heard of us?" Katara asked. "I mean, we did save this place, and we're not a hard group to miss…"

"I don't know…People confuse me sometimes…" Aya shrugged.

"We could just stop it with a bomb…" Joey said, pulling out on from his bag.

"But you could hurt it!" Kaori declared.

"C'mon…They eat bombs…" Joey defended.

"Oh…But, I just don't want to hurt him…" Kaori blushed slightly.

"Kaori, they eat these things…I highly doubt they would get hurt by them…" Aya smiled slightly.

"I know…" Kaori giggled sheepishly.

"Now that that is established, throw it now…" Navi declared… Joey didn't argue with the pixie, and threw it… Just as the little Goron rolled by did the bomb explode… The little Goron stopped abruptly, and sat there in a ball for a second… Then, it shakily uncoiled itself, and stood up, staring at the group.

"But…But you're Ganondorf's minions!" the little Goron declared, pointing its finger up at the group. "Here my name and fear me! I am Link, champion of the Gorons!"

"…" the group stared dumbfounded at this sudden remark…

"Did you just say your name is Link?" Aya asked.

"Yes! I am champion of the Gorons! My father is Darunia, the leader of the Gorons!" the little Goron said.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Navi remarked.

"Huh?" Link stared. "I keep hearing my name…"

"Ignore it, nincompoop." Navi stared down.

"Okay…" Link just shrugged.

"Uh…D-did you just say your name is Link, too?" the little Goron stared up at Link.

"Uh…That's what people have been calling me for…awhile…" Link had shifty eyes…

"Then you must be Link, one of the famous Dodongo busters!" Goron Link cheered. "Oh! What an honor! To be in the presence as the Famous Dodongo Busters from five years ago!"  
"Dodongo Busters?" Joey questioned.

"Yeah!" Goron Link nodded. "Actually, it's become a promise in that the next heirs, my future siblings, will be named after the other famous Dodongo Busters!"

"I feel very honored…" Katara laughed.

"But….I guess now isn't the time to be discussing this…" Goron Link said in a quavering voice…

"What happened to the other Gorons?" Aya asked, turning to the blood staining the walls; the cracks that formed…

"Ganondorf came…" Goron Link said. "He came, and revived the ancient dragon, Volvagia… Then, he came to the city, and went on a huge rampage, capturing the Gorons… It was a really scary battle… He said we were resisting too much… So, even though he had a lot of us, he killed a bunch…He just did horrible things… Luckily, my dad and I were able to hide, along with the shopkeeper for some reason…But after we had hidden, we came back out, and found the city practically in ruins… The bodies of the dead Gorons were gone, and we didn't know what he was going to do with them…"

"…" the group stood there in shock.

"Daddy figured it out though…" Goron Link continued in a quavering voice… "He said that Ganondorf was bringing the Gorons to the Fire Temple, where Volvagia is… The Gorons are all going to be live sacrifices to Volvagia, and this is only because it's a warning to races that resist Ganondorf… The ones that he killed were going to be fed to the dragon…But Daddy went to the Fire Temple to go save the Gorons…But he can't do it alone…"

"Well, I'd figure that…" Joey commented, shifting in his spot.

"He needs the Legendary Hammer…It is said that the last time Volvagia was sealed away is when a Goron used a hammer to defeat it…I know that this is true because Daddy is a descendant of the Goron…But…Daddy…" Goron Link then burst into a fit of tears…

"We have to go there now…" Kaori sighed.

"It's okay…" Aya reassured.

"It's okay other me!" Link cheered, and kneeled to the Goron's height… "We're going to go! Because we are the people…uh…The Dodongo Buster-dudes! We can do that…"

"…Are you sure?" Goron Link looked up and paused… Sniffing back tears, he grew a triumphant and determined look on his face… "What am I saying? You're the legendary, famous Dodongo Busters! You can surely do it!"

"Yay!" Link and Joey cheered at the same time; they both threw their fists in the air.

"Let me give you something…"Goron Link gestured for the group to follow him… The heroes nodded, and followed the little Goron threw the broken city… They came to the bottom level, where Goron Link Goron-pounded (to his best ability, anyway) the floor, unsealing Darunia's room and the Shop… They went inside the shop, where the shopkeeper sat with a bored expression.

"Oh, Link…" the shopkeeper rose… "Who do you bring with you?"

"They're the Legendary Dodongo Busters!" Goron Link cheered. "They came just in time…They're going to go the Fire Temple and help Daddy…"

"…" the shopkeeper stared closely at the group. "Well…That's a surprise, for sure! I remember you all! You're the group of kids that I sold supplies to five years ago!"

"So you do remember us?" Katara asked.

"Yeah…And odd bunch of kids you were…" the shopkeeper mused. "Well, it's ironic that the Dodongo Busters showed up to help!"

"Yeah…A lot of things seem ironic these days…" Aya smiled.

"Well, you all have surely changed!" the shopkeeper said. "But, I don't think now is the right time…"

"Mr. Shopkeeper, could you sell them some Goron Tunics and stuff?" Goron Link asked in an innocent tone.

"I'm not going to sell them anything…" the shopkeeper smiled. "Since it's a time of crisis, I'll just give you the supplies you need."

"That's very nice!" Goron Link smiled.

"Stuff! GO STUFF!" Link cheered loudly.

"Excuse him…" Navi commented. "He was born inept to life…"

"…" the shopkeeper, and Goron Link both laughed. "No problem, no let's see…" the shopkeeper turned and messed around on some shelves… "Ah! Here we go…Six Goron Tunics!"

"What are what-what?" Link asked, staring down at the red garment before him.

"They're specialized heat-resistant tunics for Hylians, since they can't stay in extreme heat for long…" the shopkeeper explained. "They'll be handy…"

"Do I need one?" Joey turned.

"Well…Let's see here…" Navi began. "What do you think, oh great Spirit of _Fire_…?"

"I get da point…" Joey stared at the fairy… "I don't need one…"

"Are you sure?" the shopkeeper stared at the blond. "I mean, I've never heard of a normal human able to survive the heat of the crater before…"

"Believe him…" Navi reassured. "He's heat-resistant…"

"And flammable…" Aya added.

"That too…" Navi said.

"…" the shopkeeper stared.

"I promise!" Joey put his hands up. "I can withstand it…I have a mastery of fire! I'm something called da Spirit of Fire, and I think I can get by without one…  
"I trust you…" the shopkeeper put his away… The group stared, and just slipped the tunics on…

"Okay then…" Aya put her jacket back on, so the tunic was only over her dress.

"Very, very odd…" Katara looked herself over…

"Red!" Link cheered. "I like red…and….eggs…and green…and trees…and…I don't know…"

"Thank you…" Navi said sarcastically.

"Yay!" Link just cheered…

"Okay…" Goron Link began. "To get to Death Mountain Crater, you have to pull out the statue in Daddy's room… Behind it is the secret entrance to the crater! From there, I think you can figure it out…"

"We will eventually…" Navi reassured.

"Sooner or later…" Aya shrugged.

"Good luck, Dodongo Busters!" Goron Link waved as they walked out of the shop… Crossing the way, the group walked into Darunia's room… Kurama and Link pulled out the stature, and the group walked through a small tunnel… After some walking in pure darkness, the group came to the crater… It was, obviously, hot… Lava pooled in the center of it… Crafted everywhere was wood and iron bridges, stairs, and ladders… One bridge was broken…Ropes hung here and there, and boulders were everywhere…

"Creepy…" Navi said…

"Very weird…" Joey added… The heroes walked over to the broken bridge… Staring at it, they decided their best bet was the hookshot…

"The shiny, hooky thing!" Link cried, grabbing Kaori by the waist… He shot of the hookshot, and swung over to the other side… As not to risk losing the hookshot forever in the scorching depths of the lava pits, Navi mustered her strength to fly the hookshot across to Joey… He did the same with himself and Katara…To Navi's relief; Kurama just grabbed Aya and hopped to the other side…

"I want to know how you do dat…" Joey stared at the redhead.

"One day you'll know…" Kurama just smiled.

"I'm sure…" Joey just shrugged.

"I've been waiting for you, heroes…" Sheik's voice was heard… He hopped down from an upper ledge in front of the group. "Every time I lay eyes upon you, your aura of friendship and power grows….The longevity of that aura could outlast time itself, no?"

"Huh?" Joey and Link said in unison.

"The strong powers and passion of friendship will soon blossom in an inevitable, righteous power, and through it you will know which way to go…" Sheik stated in a smooth, cryptic tone…

"…" the group stared at the mysterious youth. He pulled out his harp, and it held an unusual glow in the eerie lighting of the crater…

"Now listen well, heroes… Listen to the song dedicated to the power of the heart: the Bolero of Fire…" Sheik motioned to Link, who took a minute, but remembered and pulled out the Ocarina of Time… Sheik began to play a stern, marching tune on his harp… Link quickly picked up on it, and began playing the same notes… The two continued in a fiery, powerful duet as the music rang through the crater… After a second, the two brought the tune to an end…

"I will see you again, heroes…" Sheik stood there as a wall of fire erupted, blocking the group from getting to him… Then, he stepped back, disappearing within a flash….

"Wow…" Kaori said, staring at where the Sheikah youth once stood…

"So…Where's the place with the lava and fire and dragon and Goron-dudes?" Link turned to the group.

"Is it that over there?" Kurama pointed to a small tunnel.

"Hey! That completely works!" Link jumped and ran over into the tunnel… In fear of Link hurting himself, the group ran after him… Link stood, staring down a ladder in a hole…

"Before we even go into it…" Joey pushed Link down the hole…

"He could have just climbed the ladder…" Kurama turned to the pyromaniac.

"Yeah, but dat's fun…" Joey winked.

"Whatever suits you I suppose…?" Kurama chuckled… The girls went first down the ladder, followed by the other two boys… They arrived down at the bottom, where Link was slumped over in a dazed heap…

"Purple cuccos singing songs in the puddles of pudding…" Link said in a very zoned-out voice…

"He sounds intoxicated." Aya commented.

"He does, actually…" Kurama agreed.

"Snap out of it or I'll go through my ocarina-threat!" Navi yelled.

"I'm up!" Link sprung up to standing position. "Hi!"

"Uh…" Joey shrugged.

"Ready to move on?" Navi asked unfazed.

"Sure…" the group responded, and walked into another small tunnel…

**A/n: **Yay! Go to the next chapter!


	22. Medallion of Fire Part 2

**A/n: **Uh…I'm back! I have to say; by this chapter or the next I'll have surpassed 100 reviews! Dude, I haven't done that yet…That would be nifty…

Moving on, okay?

The Fire Temple won't be as long…Considering it wasn't that eventful…Right?

**Disclaimer: **Dude, what do you think?

**Chapter 22: Medallion of Fire Part 2**

As the heroes stepped into the heated entrance of the Fire Temple, they automatically noticed the major changes from the Forest Temple… It wasn't a fancy or huge entry room… There was a staircase, with torches on either side… On either far side on the bottom were two doors, one of which seemed to be covered by a totem statue of some form… Past the staircase, there were the main attractions of the room: three large totem statues in the wall that had mysterious flames ignited in their mouths…On either side of those were two doors, and one was locked…

"This is a huge change…" Katara commented, staring around the room…

"Those statues are creepy…" Link stated, staring at the strange totems…

"I think they're cool…Da fire in their mouths is awesome…" Joey smirked, staring somewhat in a transfixed manner at the flames…

"You would, Spirit of Fire…" Navi sighed. "You're such a pyromaniac…"

"…Am I really?" Joey turned to Katara.

"Duh…" Katara rolled her eyes in a playful way. "I suppose the Goddesses didn't choose you to be the Spirit of Fire for nothing…"

"Good point…" Joey chuckled…

"So…" Link stared around… "It's hot…"

"No shit Sherlock…" Navi stared down at her partner… "I thought it was so cold that my wings were going to fall off…"

"But it is…" Link argued back, staring up at the fairy.

"We're in the Fire Temple for Din's sake…" Navi countered… "What did you expect, Zora's Domain?"

"…Maybe…" Link had shifty eyes…

"Why do I even try?" Navi said underneath her breath…

"What do we do again?" Katara asked as the group proceeded up the staircase…

"I say we try going through that door!" Link pointed to the locked door.

"It's locked…" Aya stared at the door, and then Link.

"Wait…It is?" Link stared…

"I believe that is why there is a lock and chains on it…" Kurama mentioned in a calmly sarcastic manner.

"Oh…Dude…" Link cocked his head.

"There are times when I question why the Deku Tree put me with him…" Navi said underneath her breath before speaking out loud. "Let's go through the door that doesn't have chains on it…"

"Oh...Cool!" Link cheered, and dashed over to the unlocked door.

"Whatever then…" Aya turned to the rest before they followed after… They went through it, and found themselves in the next room…It had four main platforms in each respective direction, and in between them all were small landforms and pieces of stone and pillars in a steaming pool of lava… Granted, there was none in between the platform the group was now on, and the one across from it…That platform only had a small hole in it… But on the other platform was a large door that had gold chains and locks on it; also on that platform as a figure…

"Hey!" Link pointed in front of him. "There's a dude on it…Maybe its Captain Teapot…"

"It's too big to be Captain Teapot…" Joey inquired. "Wait…Shit…" Joey slapped himself for agreeing, and then turned to Katara, who was laughing… Joey just shrugged, and turned back to the Hero of Time...

"No…Wait… It's Teabag the Benevolent!" Link cheered in an overly enthusiastic way. "It's Captain Teapot's loyal sidekick!"

"Teabag the Benevolent?" Aya questioned with a lifted eyebrow…

"Yes!" Link cheered, and began doing his dubbed "Teapot Dance: the Sequel."

"Wait…" Kurama stared, ignoring the pointy-eared teen dancing and singing right next to him… "Doesn't that figure seem a big familiar?"

"How can you tell?" Aya turned to the Spirit of Earth.

"…" Kurama paused for a minute… "Isn't that Darunia?"

"…It is!" Kaori chirped, getting a better look.

"Brothers and Sisters?" the figure spoke up... "Link, Kurama, Joey, Kaori, Aya, and Katara? Ha! It is you!" He let out a hearty laugh that was a giveaway, it was Darunia…

"Darunia!" the group chimed.

"Brothers and Sisters!" Darunia called again. "Wow! I haven't seen you all in five years! Looking at you, I can see those five years has changed you all more then I've expected! You all have grown from cute kids to handsome young men, and beautiful young women!"

"…Thanks!" Joey smiled.

"Egotist…" Katara stared at him with an amused grin.

"I do not have a big ego!" Joey looked down at Katara…

"…Whatever you say…" Katara smirked…

"I would really like to sit down and have a real, adult conversation with you all…" Darunia laughed a bit, but his tone quickly grew to a more serious one. "But now really isn't the time…As you probably seen, Goron City is a mess…"

"We saw…" Navi said.

"It wasn't very pleasant…" Aya commented.

"Is my son okay?" Darunia asked. "Did he and the shopkeeper get out okay?"

"Yes…" Navi said reassuringly.

"Yeah, Little Link-dude got out it one piece…" Joey said.

"Yeah! Little me was all 'hey, you're the buster-dudes' and I'm all like 'hey, what's that' and he's all like 'those one people who did that one thing' and I'm all 'hey, that's nifty' and we're both like 'dude…'" Link ranted.

"…" Darunia was silent… "Did anyone catch that?"

"I think he said that we talked to him, and he recognized who we were… Then, he explained to us the situation, and we agreed to help…" Kurama translated for the Goron leader.

"How did you do that?" Darunia stared curiously at the redhead.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure myself…" Kurama chuckled.

"Anyway…" Darunia laughed again. "As my sworn siblings, I request your help…"

"Okay!" Link cheered.

"I am going to proceed to the ancient dragon's room…" Darunia began. "By doing so, I'm probably risking my neck… But, I suppose it's necessary…I won't let the bastard Ganondorf get away with doing what he's done… But one thing worries me…"

"And what is that?" Katara asked.

"I don't have the Legendary Megaton Hammer with me…" Darunia sighed loudly… "It is one of, if not, the only thing that can put that dragon in its place… That is why I'm putting my life at risk…"

"Where is it?" Kurama questioned.

"It's hidden somewhere in this temple…" Darunia said. "Since this is a Goron shrine to worship the fire spirits, it was hidden away here for sacred, religious purposes, and because of that, I don't know where it is…"

"We can find it for you…" Joey shrugged.

"That would be greatly appreciated…" Darunia sighed again. "But, I will proceed on without it… Actually, if you wish, you can find it and use it for your own purposes… You can try if I don't succeed… I won't actually try to defeat such a beast…Actually, I'm only going to keep it at bay until you get there…There is one main thing that I want from you…"

"What's that?" Joey inquired.

"There are Gorons everywhere in this temple…" Darunia said. "I want you to free all of the Gorons in here… That is my main concern: the safety of my people…"

"We can do dat…" Joey shrugged.

"Thank you, brothers and sisters…" Darunia smiled a big grin… "I want you to be safe too…So don't die on me, okay? I want my sworn siblings to be okay…"

"That's sweet…" Aya smiled.

"It would be a shame too…" Darunia smirked.

"What does that mean?" Link asked with a look of clueless-ness on his face.

"Oh, nothing…" Darunia mused before letting out a hearty laugh. "Just me being nosy is all…"

"…" The group stared oddly at the huge Goron.

"Anyway, move on!" Darunia laughed. "I appreciate this! Hurry though…"

"We will…" Navi said.

"Good…Good luck!" The Goron turned around, and forced the gold chains off of the stone door with brute force… Then, after they clanked to the ground, he proceeded on through the door… But after the door closed, the gold chains and locks began to glow a strange red color before going back on the door in their previous positions…

"Shall we continue then?" Kurama turned…  
"Works for me…" Joey shrugged… The group looked around, and saw that there was only one door on only one of the other platforms… The heroes carefully hopped off of the platform they were on, and quickly made their way from on spot to the next before making it to the platform… They walked past the door, and found themselves in a strange dungeon like room… The walls were dirty and rocky, and there was a switch in front of a rusty barred, secluded area… Behind the bars was a small curled up, trembling Goron…

"P-please don't hurt me…" the Goron's quavering voice echoed in the dimly-lit room… "I beg of you don't hurt me…"

"We're not gonna hurt you…" Katara reassured as Link stepped on the switch and opened the cage…

"Jeez…Think it could get anymore dark in here?" Joey commented, and conjured a bright in his hand to illuminate the dark room.

"C'mon dude!" Link cheered. "We're good people!"

"B-but…" the Goron uncurled itself, and stood to stare at the group… He had crusted over blood on his body that probably came from gashes on his body and the blood of others… He didn't seem very old…Probably eight or so…

"Why would we hurt you?" Joey asked the Goron.

"Everyone else in the past few days has…" the Goron shifted his gaze to the wall. "I had to watch my mom die…"

"…" the group just froze and stared.

"I…I didn't want my mommy to die…" the little Goron began trembling violently… "But Ganondorf killed her…Right in front of me…So…You must be here to take me to the dragon…"

"Dude, we're da good guys…" Joey said, waving his free hand in some weird hand gestures… "Contrary to popular belief we cool…"

"What the pyromaniac said…" Navi commented, brightening her glow to add some more light.

"…So…I don't get to die?" The Goron stared up at them with tear filled eyes… "But what about my mommy? Will I ever get to see her again?"

"…" there was a silence…

"I shouldn't have asked…" The Goron let a few tears fall, and they disappeared into the stains of blood on his cheeks… "But…Now that I stare at you, you all don't seem very evil…"

"We're not, really…" Katara laughed.

"So, you're not Ganondorf's servants…" the Goron sighed. "Why are you here?"

"Let's just say we're here to help…" Aya said.

"Yes, we're here to help you all…We're friends of Darunia…" Kurama smiled at the Goron.

"Oh… You're friends of Big Brother?" The Goron stared up, wiping some tears from his eyes.

"Of course…Dude…" Joey laughed.

"And he told us to help you all so we're doing that!" Link cheered, and did a funky twirling move, where he spun and around and through his fist in the air…

"Okay!" The Goron laughed.

"Now, you should go and leave now…" Aya turned.

"It isn't safe here anymore…" Kaori added.

"How do I get out?" The Goron asked.

"Just go to the platform across the one with the huge door and exit through the entry room… We opened a path from a large cave in the crater to Darunia's room… Just go to the shop where Link and the shopkeeper are…" Kurama quickly explained.

"Alright mister!" The Goron chimed. "Thank you! I'll see…you again!" The Goron waved, and ran out of the room…The found a chest in his cage, and found a key in it… Pocketing it, they made their way out of the room…

"I've officially declared Ganondorf the biggest bastard in existence…" Aya declared as the travelers made their way out of the room.

"I think bastard is an understatement…" Katara remarked.

"I agree…" Joey said… The group continued back into the entry room, and went the locked door… Past that door was a large room… Below them was a pool of lava, and there was a wooden bridge that led to another door… Crossing the rickety bridge carefully, they ran past to the door… Once past, they were in a small room… It was a wooden plank, and it led to a caged area with a geyser of fire erupting in the middle of it… Sliding down the plank, they looked around the caged room…

"Dude…What do we do now?" Link turned to the others… "There's like…wire-y stuff and things and hot stuff that goes 'whoosh.'"

"Do you wake up every morning thinking of new ways to sound like a moron?" Navi stared down at her partner; her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You're mean!" Link whined in a pathetic voice…

"Ha…" Navi smirked in amusement…

"I hate to interrupt this enlightening conversation, but I think I've figured out what to do…" Kurama said in his usual calm, sarcastic voice…

"Oh…I forgot about that part…" Navi fluttered around the redhead, now focused on the current predicament.

"So, Kurama…What do we do again?" Joey turned.

"You see that block up there?" Kurama pointed up to a block on an upper ledge; the ledge was reachable by the chain-linked wall.

"Oh…" Joey stared up at the block… "I'm still lost…"

"…" Kurama sighed.

"Oh…I see where you're getting at…" Aya nodded, staring up at the blocks.

"That makes sense…" Katara commented while Kaori nodded her head.

"Yep…" Kaori chirped.

"Why is everyone getting dis and I'm not?" Joey grunted.

"I'm confused…" Link turned.

"What I mean, Joey, Link…We could push the block on the geyser, and that would create easy transport up to what's beyond that hole in the ceiling…

"Oooohhhhhh…." The two blonds said in unison…

"Finally…" Navi commented. "I'm tempted to start sitting on the smart person's head…"

"Whatever suits you, Navi…?" Kurama smiled.

"Well, let's get up their then!" Link cheered.

"Who's going up first?" Joey smirked.

"You are…" Kurama turned.

"Why?" Joey turned to the redhead…

"Because if not, then we'll go through the same thing that happened last time…" Kurama stared at the fiery blond as if it were blatantly obvious.

"Huh?" Joey and Link said in unison yet again.

"What Kurama means is, you dunces…" Navi said. "Is that you're perverted…"

"So, go up first or face the wrath of the girls…" Katara glared.

"And the wrath of the girls isn't pretty…" Aya added.

"What about him?" Joey pointed to Kurama.

"Unlike you two, Kurama is a gentlemen and not a pervert…So go up or I will sick my fairy friends all up on your ass…" Navi said, her blue glow flashing in annoyance…

"Okay, you win…If I had a white flag I'd wave it…I surrender…" Joey put his hands in front of him…

"Uh…I'm still lost…" Link lifted a hand in the air, causing the rest to all sigh loudly in unison.

"Never mind it, Link…" Kaori put her hand on his shoulder, sighing loudly.

"Okay…To the thing up above!" Link began climbing the cage walls, and Joey followed under the threatening glare of Katara… After everyone went up, Joey and Link pushed the block on the geyser…Then, everyone hopped on the block to lift them up to above in pairs… Once past that, they went to the next room in the fiery sanctuary…


	23. Medallion of Fire Part 3

**A/n: **Uh…Nothing's changed so without further waiting, onward we go!

This chapter's a teeny bit more dramatic, if you will, then others… But you'll see… (No…no one dies…)

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own anything other than my characters…So…ha to you!

**Chapter 23: Medallion of Fire Part 3**

"So…" Link spoke up… The group was now currently standing on a ledge staring at a diamond shaped switch in the ground… They were slightly confused as to what do with this obscure device, so they just sat staring at it…

"What da hell is this thing?" Joey poked the silver switch with small pokes…

"I think it's supposed to do something…" Kurama started… "If it is a switch like we believe, then it is probably supposed to do something…"

"Does that 'something' have to do with the wall of fire surrounding that climbing wall?" Aya pointed to the wall…

"Actually, that's exactly what I'm thinking…" Kurama nodded…

"Do we hit it?" Link turned.

"No, you sing to it…" Navi sighed.

"I can do that…" Link piped.

"No!" the group responded in unison.

"Meanies…" Link huffed… Hopping to the next ledge where the fire wall was, the group walked over next to it… Link then shot and arrow at it, and when the arrow impacted the switch, it made a loud noise that sound like a sword coming out of its sheath…Immediately, the fire disappeared and the heroes immediately scaled the wall… They came to a door, and once past that door, they came to a large room… This one was a large maze… It was huge with rounded corners and the room was filled with loud rumbling noises…

"What's the loud rumble-y noise that is pretty and loud and stuff like that?" Link turned to Navi for answers…

"Boulders…" Navi said bluntly.

"Huh?" Link was clueless.

"There are giant rolling boulders that will smash you…There…" Navi said.

"She's right…" Kurama agreed.

"She is?" Joey shrugged, and before he could go in any further, Kurama grabbed his arm, and pulled him back. Immediately after being pulled back, a large boulder rolled by them and rounded the corner…

"Shit!" Joey cursed loudly. "Thanks again, dude…" Kurama nodded.

"You wouldn't have nearly gotten run over if you had listened to Navi!" Katara shot at Joey.

"If she wasn't so blunt then maybe I would have!" Joey countered.

"Whether she's blunt or not, she has more intelligence then you do!" Katara's face was flushed.

"Sure…" Joey huffed.

"I'm just here…" Navi commented, now seated upon Link's head.

"Sorry!" Katara smiled.

"Oh, no problem…" Navi shrugged… After a second, the group settled down and they began carefully rounding corners…Dodging rolling boulders along the way, the made it to an opening past one corner… In it was another cage with a Goron.

"D-don't hurt me…I don't want to die…" the Goron trembled. "P-please… My family is already dead…" This Goron seemed to be only somewhat younger then themselves, however old that was in Goron years…

"We're not gonna hurt ya…" Joey said, stepping on the switch… The cage disappeared.

"You're not?" The Goron uncurled itself and stared at them with a bloodstained face.

"Of course not…" Kaori smiled.

"We're the good guys…" Aya said. "We do the saving and kick the bad guys' butt and all that…"

"Because we rock!" Link began dancing around the area.

"…" the Goron stared. "A-anyway…T-thank you for releasing me… I have nothing else to say but that my gratitude is forever yours!"

"We appreciate it…" Katara laughed. "But you'd best hurry and get out of here…We have to help Darunia…"  
"Oh please help Big Brother!" The Goron began to run out, and looked over its shoulder. "Thank you again!"

"I feel so sorry for these guys…" Kaori sighed as Link pocketed another key…

"But we're gonna help them!" Link smiled in a carefree manner. They rounded some more corners before coming to another cage opening.

"Don't hurt me!" the Goron's pleading voice echoed. "I won't taste that good anyway!"

"We won't hurt you!" Link whined. "We're good people…As in hero dudes that go 'whoosh.'"  
"Y-you won't hurt me?" the Goron uncurled as Joey stepped on the switch and eliminated the cage…

"We're friends of Captain Teapot and his trusty sidekick Teabag the Benevolent!"

"Okay then…" The Goron stared oddly at the Hero of Time before turning to the rest… "Thank you for helping me! Help Big Brother and don't get hurt!"

"We won't get hurt!" Link started dancing…

"May more luck be with him than anyone else…?" The Goron whispered as he ran by…The rest just snickered…

"What?" Link whirled around…  
"We're moving on, oh Great Father of Teabags…" Navi rolled her eyes as the group cautiously made it to another passage… This time, they went through the door, and found themselves at the top of the maze… Hopping from ledge to ledge (while avoiding Torch Slugs) they came to a hole… The travelers climbed down it and found yet another cage…

"Are…Are you going to kill me?" The Goron uncurled and stared lifelessly at the group through a blood-caked face.

"No…" Aya answered.

"Why not?" the Goron stared. "Everyone has…My family and friends are all dead… I couldn't do anything about it, and now I await my own demise…No amount of pain can cover what I've seen…"  
"…" the heroes were silent as Joey tripped the switch…

"You can't be that sad…" Link's eyes softened at the Goron.

"Who wouldn't be?" the Goron snapped. "If you had to watch the ones you cared for killed, would you be happy? I don't think you'd be 'happy' if your friends were killed…Would you like it?"

"…" Link's eyes widened slightly at the sudden breakout, and thoughts of what the Deku Sprout had said about the Spirits flooded back in his mind…

"Whoa…" Joey managed to say…  
"Good…" the Goron snapped again. "There's nothing that can attain for the pain I've endured…Getting eaten by a dragon alive seems like a luxury if it means I don't have to witness the death of those I love anymore…"

"…" Link kept his gaze firmly on the side wall…  
"Link…" Kaori stared…

"…" Link made no response…

"That was a little harsh, wouldn't you say?" Joey turned to the Goron.

"There was nothing harsh about it!" The Goron said in a half-sharp, half-quavering voice… "It's only reality…And reality is a real pain, isn't it?"

"…You little punk…" Joey started, but Katara grabbed his arm…

"Good…" the Goron said brashly. "I have no use to be around anymore, so I might as well just get eaten…"

"You won't…" Link stared… "Please…Don't go get eaten…"

"Whatever…Softy punk…" the Goron's expression remained stone-cold and lifeless… "There's nothing left for me anywhere…Any place I go, I'll end up dying…Whatever…" The Goron trudged off… If he was actually going is beyond them… But he stopped to say one last thing.

"Reality is a bitch, and I've learned that…" he said in the same lifeless tone. "There is no use running from death now… I'd rather face worse torture then what I've seen… So, I do want to die, be it by dragon or something else…But thanks for the attempt anyway…" The Goron walked off…

"…" there was a long silence…

"Link?" Kaori turned to the pointy-eared teen.

"Let…Let's just…move on…" Link said in a shaky voice… He pocketed the next key, and the group just went on in an eerie silence…

"That doesn't look very promising…" Navi was the first to break the long silence… The heroes were now in a large room, if it was to be considered as such, and they were staring at a narrow, rock bridge… The bridge wasn't over a pool of lava, though…It was over absolutely nothing but what seemed like an abyss of nothing… At least, it seemed that way… The rock bridge was extremely thin and narrow, and it looked rickety and ready to crumble…

"So…Who's going to go first?" Joey turned to the others, putting past event behind him…

"Uh…" Link stared at it…After a moment of silence, he spoke up… "I'll go…It seems…fun…"

"Fun?" Navi stared down. "You're definition of 'fun' sounds…not normal…"

"Fun!" Link turned to Kaori… "You want to go with me?"

"Uh…Sure…" Kaori giggled a bit, and cautiously followed the Hero of Time onto the rock-path… They took each step very carefully… When they were close to the end, a faint cracking sound was heard… Navi fluttered down to the source of the cracking to investigate…

"You all might want to hurry…" Navi looked at Link and Kaori, who had successfully made it to the other side… "Whoever's going next, do it quickly, because this thing's not going to last at all…"

"That makes it better…" Joey stared at the fairy before shrugging… He turned to Katara, who gulped and nodded… Then, that pair headed out…But this time, the cracking grew worse… Joey gasped a bit for breath as he held himself together… Stepping just a bit faster, he made it to the other side, and Katara made it just in time before a crack was heard again, and a couple of small pieces of rock broke from the bottom of the bridge…

"Eek!" Katara hopped back behind Joey, surprised from the falling rocks…   
"That was cool…" Link stared at the rocks as the disappeared to who-knows-where…  
"Rocks falling from the bridge is cool?" Kaori sighed at Link.

"Yes…Because they are rocky and cool and stuff…and they're nifty…" Link ranted.

"Be quiet…" Navi said for the group… Then she turned to Kurama and Aya, who were the only ones left… "You two are risking your necks going across…Can't you like…jump or something?"

"That is out of the question…" Kurama said, and turned to Aya and back to Navi… "It's a very far jump, and besides… The platform the rest are on now only looks strong enough to hold the group anyway… Even if I could jump across it might put too much pressure on the bridge…"

"What would that do?" Link asked at the redhead, causing everyone to slap themselves…

"It means it would break…and we would all fall…" Aya said.

"Oh…That would suck…" Link cocked his head.

"Duh…" Navi rolled her eyes, before turning back to the last pair. "Are you going to try? This thing might break before you can go anywhere…"

"I suppose we have no other choice…" Aya sighed. "I guess it's now or never…"

"I suppose…" Kurama sighed again… The two started out carefully, and almost upon stepping on the bridge, cracking noises were heard.

"I command thee to not break!" Link pointed at the bridge with a determined look on his face.

"You're the Hero of Time, not a wizard…" Navi stared at the hero.

"Or am I?" Link had shifty eyes.

"I give up on you and your mood swings…" Navi said under her breath… She turned her attention back to the bridge, and the two crossing it… She gulped slightly to see that the cracks were big now, and they were growing across the top of the bridge…

"Damn…" Navi cursed. "You don't have much time!"

"We figured that…" Aya commented as she struggled to keep her balance.

"I suppose it's obvious with all of the cracks…" Kurama whispered so only Aya could hear…

"…" Aya smiled slightly… They came a bit closer to the other platform when a loud noise was heard…

Crack!

"Dammit!" Joey cursed loudly as he stared at the scene before him… The bridge was severing right under the pair's feet… Rocks were breaking off from the bridge, and the cracking noises echoed…

"Hurry!" Link exclaimed in a worried tone…

"…" Kaori and Katara just stared in surprise…  
"Ah!" Navi squealed as a piece of rock nearly hit her… She fluttered back over Link and the others as she felt she could do nothing else… It was no use trying to cross over any further, as the bridge was severed, and falling apart…

"Aya…" Kurama whispered back to Aya… "Prepare yourself…"

"I am…" Aya braced herself for the fall… And then it happened…

The rest of the bridge fell from beneath their feet when they were only a few feet from the platform…

"No dammit!" Joey cursed as he reached out his hand, but neither was close enough to grab as they fell… And that was it… Both fell down and down… and down…

As they were falling, Kurama reached out his hand, and grabbed Aya, pulling her close to him to help shield some impact… Now all there was to do was brace for impact whenever it came…


	24. Medallion of Fire Part 4

**A/n: **That was a halfway eventful chapter… Well, here is the next one…

**Disclaimer: **Some rich dude owns this stuff (well most of it…) duh…

**Chapter 24: Medallion of Fire Part 4**

"Dammit…" Joey was cursing… The rest of the group: Link, Kaori, Joey, Katara, and Navi were now in the next room beyond what was the bridge room… Once in there, Joey punched a wall…

"Why did you do that…?" Navi turned to the Spirit of Fire…

"Why do you think?" Joey stared. "Those two are probably dead now…No normal person could survive that fall…"

"Well…True…" Navi stopped for a second. "But maybe not…I mean, you all are obviously not 'normal people.' Maybe the Goddesses are on your sides…Who knows?"

"That was unusual for you to say…" Katara turned.

"Preachy?" Navi shrugged… "Someone has to say it…I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yeah!" Link cheered, but inside, he was welling up with worry…

"As much as I hate to say this, we have to move on without them…" Navi said. "We can't go looking for them, as there is no longer a way back through there…So, until we find another way, we have to move on without them…"

"But…" Link stared. "Okay…"

"Damn…" Joey just turned. "Well, I guess we have to…But…If they're dead, I'm hurting you, fairy…"  
"I'd love to see you try…" Navi commented as they moved on…

"I could…" Joey countered.

"Whatever…" Navi said monotonously… They all sighed loudly and moved on through the next rooms…

_Meanwhile…_

A finger twitched slightly… A pair of forest green eyes slowly opened… They were a bit cloudy at first, but they reverted back to normal as they adjusted to the light…

"That wasn't very pleasant…" Kurama said wryly to himself as his vision came into focus… He felt numb all over, but forced himself to rise to his knees… It was only a couple of minutes before the pain rose in him… Falling down to his hands and knees, Kurama sucked in a sharp breath… He began to take notice to all of the injuries…

Kurama immediately noticed the blood on his hands…Upon further inspection; he noticed a variety of cuts and scrapes on them… He felt his head and discovered a fairly deep gash on the top side of his head… He then turned down to his legs, where the majority of the pain came from… There was some blood, but Kurama noticed there were some rips in the knees of one… He looked closer and figured out that his knee was barely away from dislocation, but his ankle on the same leg was completely messed up… No wonder it hurt so bad in that leg…. Other than that, he had a variety of bruises, cuts, and scrapes among other things…

"What about her?" Kurama turned to his side (avoiding pressure on the particular leg) and saw Aya, who was still out cold… Turning her over, he looked her over to get an idea of what her injuries… (Respectfully of course…This is Kurama not Joey!) He first noticed a pretty deep gash in her cheek… He gently felt one of her arms, and sighed, feeling that it was completely out of place… She had a deep cut on her leg, and plenty of bruises everywhere… Other than a million cuts and scrapes, like himself, she was okay…

Kurama then decided to take note of where they were exactly… He sighed, noticing they were back in the same room that they met Darunia in… As a matter of fact, they were on the same platform as earlier, but it was now a little beaten up from the fallen rubble and whatnot… Knowing it was impossible to leave the room in the condition they were in, or get to the where the group was, he decided they had no choice but to wait… He gently grabbed Aya, and scooted back, leaning against the wall softly, placing his injured leg in front of him… He then placed Aya next to him, and she fell into his chest… Kurama didn't mind, and just decided to stay awake until Aya woke up…

_How are the others doing?_

"Ah!" Link fell backwards, dazed… The group had been traveling quite far, and was now in an odd room with a million pillars… Of course, it seemed that way, but Link proved it to be more of a fire maze…

"Link!" Kaori knelt down to the dazed hero…

"Lollipops with frolicking fish of Neverland…." Link held up a finger… After a second, he sat up… "I'm okay…" Link declared… He stared down… His hand was burnt up, but he was in one piece…

"Are you okay?"

"Hey, my skin is peeling…That's cool…" Link stared transfixed with the charred, peeling hand…

"He's okay…" Kaori giggled a bit…

"Link could have his arm chopped off and he'd still find something cool about it…" Navi said… "But now at least we know it's a maze of fire…"

"Dat's a good thing to know…" Joey shrugged, putting his hand in the wall of fire and pulling it out, unscathed… "Sometimes it's pretty cool being the Spirit of Fire…"

"Pyromaniac…" Navi mumbled, and plopped herself on Link's head… "Can we just move on now?"

"Sure…" Katara stared with a lifted eyebrow at Joey, who was still playing with the wall of fire… "We're going…" Katara pulled on Joey's jacket collar, and dragged him away from the firewall as they moved on through the maze… After awhile of navigating, the group came to a door, and they came to the second half of the maze… After awhile longer, they came to a room that was small and circular…In the middle was a platform surrounded by fire… But after a second, something erupted from the flames…

"Ah! Demons!" Link shrieked…

"Well…Kind of…" Navi commented. A tall, slim monster had erupted… It seemed that the main, controlling part of the monster was a black, little body… Its legs and arms were made of fire, and it began spinning gracefully around the room… "Flame Dancers…Hit the body and extinguish their flames…"

"That's easy…" Katara shrugged…

"Use a bomb…It would stop it…And then hit it with all you've got…" Navi explained…

"Bombs!" Link pulled out a bomb and threw it at the Flame Dancer…It shrieked and the flames disappeared… Kaori formed her bow and arrow and shot the monster, and Link slashed it wildly until it screamed again and hopped back into the flames… Then, it emerged again, this time with blue fire… It began dancing around the room again… Joey tossed a bomb at it and it fell to the ground and began running around again… Katara formed some water in her hands and shut her eyes… The water hardened into ice, and it shattered into shards that levitated above her hands… She shot the numerous shards at the monster, and it shrieked loudly, and wobbled back into the flames… After repeating the same process again, the Flame Dancer disappeared, and in it's place a chest… Pocketing the key in it, the group decided to move on to another room…

_In the meantime…_

A headache was the first thing that Aya felt when she came to… Her vision was blurry at first, and it took a few minutes to focus, but after a minute, she could see clearly… After the brief headache cleared, more searing pain seeped into her body… It was mostly in her arm, but there were stingy, needle-like pains all over her body…

"It's nice to see you're finally awake…" Kurama looked down at Aya.

"Wait…How come we didn't die?" Aya asked.

"Excellent question…I really, honestly don't know how we survived it, but we did…At a cost though…" Kurama said.

"I feel that…" Aya winced a bit at her arm…

"I do too…" Kurama sighed… Aya blushed slightly, realizing she was still leaning against him… She moved to turn around to Kurama, still next to him… She ignored the slight, stinging pain from her cut leg…

"How are you doing?" Aya asked the redhead.

"I would like to say I'm fine, but I'd be lying…" Kurama laughed a bit… "Actually, my leg is in really bad shape, but aside from some gashes and cuts, I'm still alive…"

"Same here…" Aya sighed. "I can't even move this arm…"

"Well, I suppose we're stuck here until the rest manage to find us…" Kurama said. "They'll have to come here sooner or later, and I'm guessing later…The boss room is here…"

"Good point…But at the rate we normally go, that will be awhile…" Aya commented…

"I suppose…" Kurama said as a slight silence came about…. After a second, Kurama stared up above from where they fell…

"That's a pretty big fall…" Aya looked up with him… "It's a miracle we even survived that…"

"Agreed here…" Kurama turned to Aya… There was another short silence. "That's not good…Blood is still flowing from that cheek…" Aya used her good hand to touch the cheek, and noticed he was right… She winced a bit.

"That stings…" Aya said, keeping her hand on the cheek… "But why is it still bleeding…"

"Let me see it…" Kurama smiled… He grabbed Aya's hand, and took it away, and inspected the wound. "It's deeper then I thought… No wonder it's still bleeding…" He touched it slightly, causing Aya to flinch…

"That sucks…" Aya sighed as the stinging pain lightened…

"I suppose it does…" Kurama laughed slightly. There was a silence until both of them realized they were very close to each other… Slight blush rose on both of their faces…

_Meanwhile…_

"Do you think they're okay?" Link asked absent mindedly as they walked through the heated corridors… "I mean, are they okay?"

"I'm sure they are…" Kaori piped, smiling at the pointy-eared hero…

"I guess…" Link sighed, staring off…

"…" a silence ensued…

"How many more Gorons do you think we need to rescue?" Joey asked, straying from the main topic.

"A lot…That is if Ganondorf captured as many as Little Link and Darunia said…" Navi inquired from her place on Link's head.

"Poor Gorons…" Link whined. "I think Ganondorf is a mean person…"

"In translation, Ganondorf is a bastard…" Navi translated…

"Yes!" Link cheered. "Damn, damn, and damn…I love cussing!"

"At least he's entertained…" Katara laughed slightly…

"Entertained, happy, moronic…However you want to put it…" Navi commented…

"I suppose…" Kaori giggled. "Are you okay?" She stared at Link's still-burnt hand…

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Link turned. "I'm okay!" Link was still hiding his worry (or he forgot, one of the two) and he glanced down at his burnt arm. "Oh…Cool…I can see stuff that's not skin…"

"That's tissue…or something…" Navi said.

"That stuff that's in our bodies that's all like 'hey, we form to make those things in your body that do those things that make you live?'" Link looked up at the fairy.

"Exactly…" Navi said wryly…

"Cool…Go anatomy…" Link cheered, and froze… "Wait…I said a big word and I know what it means! Hot damn!"

"It's a miracle…It's going to start raining fire and flying pigs…" Navi rolled her eyes.

"Well, at least you know what it means this time…" Kaori laughed.

"Go me…Go me…Go me…" Link sang as they walked on…

_Let's move on, shall we?_

The two sat in a slight, shocked silence as they stared at each other… They hadn't moved an inch actually, meaning both were still close to each other… Both were red, but they still hadn't moved…More so, they had seemed to move a teensy bit closer to each other… It wasn't awkward… Neither felt awkward…

And they stayed like that for another minute… Until they moved closer to each other, that is… Neither said a word… And it stayed that way when their lips brushed against each other…

The two stared at each other for a second, until it happened…

Their lips met…

**A/n: **That was a pretty good chapter… I liked it… I liked how it turned out… Not long, but enough happened….


	25. Medallion of Fire Part 5

**A/n:** Wow!!! OMG! I'm so sorry! The router on my computer broke again, and I just got it fixed today!

Anyway, I apologize greatly for the teeny cliffhanger I left you all on… But I'm back and ready to update again…

So, without further rambling, let's move on!

**Disclaimer:** Still don't own anything…

**Chapter 25: Medallion of Fire Part 5**

_With the rest of the group…._

"AH!!!" Link's scream echoed as far as who-knows-where…

"Jeez…You think you could scream a little louder?" Navi's aura blinked in annoyance…

"Ow…" Kaori rubbed her ears…

"You probably made Kaori go deaf…" Katara inquired, lifting an eyebrow at the green-clad hero…

"Cool…Fire…" Joey said, staring at a torch, totally oblivious to the current situation…

"I give up…" Navi sighed loudly…

"Thank you for breaking a moment…" Katara turned to the Spirit of Fire…

"But the fire's pretty…" Joey pointed a finger at the torch…

"What do you expect from putting the Spirit of Fire in the Fire Temple?" Navi glanced down at Katara.

"Good point you have there." Katara put her index finger to her chin in thought.

"So…" Joey tuned back into the conversation. "What's going on again?"

"We just saw a parade of donkeys march by playing Minuet of Forest…" Navi said nonchalantly.

"A what playing the what?" Joey stared at the blue fairy in confusion.

"My point proven…" Navi muttered…

The group (or what was left, anyways) had traversed through most of the temple… After finishing the rest of that Goddess-forsaken fire maze (though Joey seemed to enjoy it), they had made it to what they hoped was the final floor… The group was in front of a huge pit of lava with an itty-bitty staircase that winded around to a large platform where a huge column of fire held what they guessed was a treasure chest…

"How do we make the pretty pillar thing go whoosh again?" Link looked up at Navi…

"Look over there, genius…" Navi gestured to a switch a few feet from their current position…

"Oh! Switch-y thingy thing…" Link ran over to the switch in an enthusiastic manner…He poked it with his foot before hopping on it… When the switch went down the column of fire was extinguished.

"Don't just stand there!" Navi bonked Joey on the head, who whimpered but began running up the winding-staircase… Unfortunately, the flames went back up… Joey went back to the group, where Navi cursed loudly.

"What's da matter with her?" Joey turned to Katara, who sighed…

"Uh…Well…You could have just stayed where you were…And Link could have hit the switch again and you would have gotten it…" Katara sighed.

"Hey! I'm not dat fast, okay?" Joey said in defense… "Besides, Kurama was the fast one anyway…"

"Duh…" Navi intervened…

"I'll try…See, here's how you do it…" Katara rolled her eyes and walked up the winding stairs before Link even hit the switch…She walked up to the platform, in front of the fire column, and turned to the group… She lifted a hand…

"Nincompoop, hit the switch again…" Navi turned…

"Yay!" Link hit the switch again. The fire vanished and Katara opened the chest… The rest ran up to the platform…

"That wasn't cool…" Joey whimpered.

"Yes it was…Girls rock…" Katara winked. Link bent down and picked up the treasure inside…

"That is so cool!!!" Link exclaimed. "A hammer!!" In his grip was a big hammer that had designs all over it and a leather handle…

"Oh dear Nayru…" Navi said in utter shock…

"Um…" Kaori stared, not quite sure what to think…

"That…isn't good…" Katara pointed…

"Are you sure it's a good idea he have a hammer? To smash stuff…and things…Oh Din…" Joey stammered…

"Hyrule beware…The Hero of Time is armed and dangerous…" Navi commented…

"It's big and heavy and makes stuff go boom…" Link was in awe…

_To Kurama and Aya…_

It hadn't lasted that long…Only a couple of seconds at the least… But still…It had caused for quite an awkward silence between the two…

"I've got something to say…" Kurama turned to Aya…

"Yeah?" Aya looked up at the redhead…

"Let's never tell the others about that…" he suggested.

"Excellent idea…" Aya nodded her head.

"It might do us both a world of good, since who knows what would happen if Joey or Navi knew…Let alone the others…" Kurama smiled.

"Link probably wouldn't know what a kiss was…" Aya said with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"…" Kurama laughed.

"Am I wrong?" Aya lifted an eyebrow…

"Not in the least…" Kurama smirked a bit…

"Yeah…" there was another silence…

_To the others…_

"It's pretty…" Link's comment broke the moment again…

"Why is it different from the rest of the floor again?" Kaori asked, staring down… The group had gotten over the shock of Link having hammer (which with him, is completely understandable) and had migrated to an odd part of the lava-pit-hammer room… IT was a place in the floor that had a stone square spot with a totem-pole face design, like something that had gotten wedged in a hole or something….

"Can I hit it with the hammer?" Link looked up at Navi…

"Go ahead…" Navi shrugged…

"Yay!" Link slammed the hammer down and the floor began to shake…

"It's separating…Navi stared down at the totem-thing separate from the hole…

"What?" Kaori exclaimed and looked up at Navi…

"Hang on folks, we're goin' down…" Navi said, completely unfazed (but she could fly, so why would she be fazed?).

"Cool!" Link yelled out before they all grabbed on to the thing (now identified as a pillar) and waited as it began falling…

_To the other two…_

"I hear something…" Kurama looked up from his spot.

"Something that's faint…And getting stronger…" Aya looked up too…

"I think we're going to see the group again…" Kurama laughed a bit… They looked up at the hole in the ceiling across the room from where they were… And low and behold, a pillar came crashing down… (It's across the room…)

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Link cheered….

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" Kaori shrieked.

"…" Katara was too shocked for words…

"OH DAMN!" Joey yelled as the pillar slammed down…

"They won't notice us, will they?" Aya whispered.

"No…" Kurama sighed. "Navi might…"

"Who knows?" Aya sighed…

"…" Katara was still in shock…

"WE are NEVER doing THAT AGAIN!" Kaori shrieked.

"That was loads of fun…" Link smiled.

"Let's do dat again…" Joey agreed…

"Dumbasses…" Navi muttered… She glanced across the room, and just turned back…

"Let's go back out to the main room…There are a couple of things we should finish…" Navi instructed…

"La la la…" Link sang as the left the room… Before Navi left she blinked a couple of times (her aura, that is) to acknowledge Kurama and Aya to let them know she saw them…

"I can't believe they didn't see us…" Aya rolled her eyes… "Navi did…"

"Understandable…Though, most of them were still in shock…" Kurama pointed out…

"Yes, but still…They had something to hold on too…" Aya pointed out as well…

"Good point…" Kurama shrugged…

"Soo…..." Link looked around the main room…

"What do we do again?" Katara looked up at Navi, no longer in shock…

"You see those totem statues?" Navi pointed to the totem statues against the wall on the other side of the staircase… "Admiral Sunshine over here is going to hit those with his hammer and a door will be revealed…"

"Oh…" Katara shrugged…

"Hammer!" Link yelled out and smashed he totem statues… Beyond them was as Navi said, a door….

"Yay!" Link ran through the door… After going past a vacant room, they all came to a familiar looking, circular room with a platform… Suspicions were confirmed when a Flame Dancer popped out of the platform…

"Not again!" Link whined…

"Stop laughing…" Joey whimpered as the Flame Dancer laughed…

"Just smash it…" Navi suggested…

"Cool!" Link cheered… Kaori shot an arrow at the Flame Dancer and extinguished the flames… Link ran over the monster and began to smash it…

"You will die!" Link said between smashes… "HA! You will be no more, feeble being…Wait…What does that mean? Wait! Ha!!! DIE!! HA! WEE! GO SMASHING!! WEE! WEE!! WEE!!!"

"Dude…You killed it…" Joey said, staring at the cracks in the ground that used to be the Flame Dancer…

"Oh…" Link stared at the hammer and just put it up…

"Ignoring that bit of…violence…there…" Navi shook her head… Let's move on?" They moved on to where a cage was with a Goron… It was blocked with a rusty switch and in its cage was an elegant, designed chest…

"Go hammers!" Link slammed the switch down and the cage lifted…

"Am I free to go?" the Goron looked up…

"Yes… Ignored the maniac with the hammer…" Navi said. "He's harmless, really…"

"It's okay…" the Goron stood up… "Thank you for saving me…"

"No problem, dude…" Joey smiled.

"But you should get out of here… Things are going to get kind of rough…" Katara pointed out.

"Alright…But help Big Brother… We need him back…" the Goron said.

"We will…" Link smiled…

"Okay...Thank you again!" the Goron ran off with out another word… After that, Link opened the chest and put the Boss Key in his pocket… From there, the group went back to the main room and looked up at Navi…

"Why are you looking at me?" Navi asked.

"You're the one who's directing here…" Katara pointed out.

"Oh…Well…Back the room where we met Darunia…" Navi shrugged…

"I hear them coming back…" Kurama said… "Let's hope they notice finally…"

"Navi knows now, so she'll clue them in…" Aya shrugged.

"I know she will…" Kurama smiled again. "But you would think the rubble around us would have been something you would notice…"

"Soo…" Link's voice was heard… The others walked into the room…

"Oh…I've been meaning to tell you something…" Navi started…

"What?" Katara looked up again…

"I found Kurama and Aya…." Navi said.

"What?!" Everyone else said in chorus.

"Where?" Kaori asked.

"Over there…" Navi shrugged.

"Where?" Link asked.

"We're over here!" Aya lifted her good arm.

"Oh!" Kaori stared.

"Oh…." Joey said. "Wait! You aren't dead!"

"Duh…" Navi fluttered over to the pair while the others followed.

"You're alive!" Link said, completely relieved that his friends…were not dead….

"Jeez…." Navi inspected the wounds… "I'm surprised you survived that fall…We all assumed you were dead…Well most…"

"We feel loved…" Aya sighed.

"Where were you when we first fell down here?" Kaori asked.

"We were here…Conscious and alive…" Kurama answered.

"Yep…We were here the entire time…" Aya sighed.

"You aren't dead!" Link sighed in relief again.

"Well…You are alive now…If we don't deal with these wounds quickly then one of you might bleed to death or go into shock or whatever…" Navi said.

"Ah!" Kaori flipped out.

"Don't flip out anyone…" Navi said. "I've got an idea…" Navi flew off to another area of the room and came back with a fairy… The fairy flew off and first healed Kurama, and then used the last of her energy to heal Aya… The fairy nodded and flew off.

"It's kind of nice to be able to move my arm again…" Aya laughed.

"And to walk again…" Kurama agreed.

"How long were you here?" Joey turned.

"For a few hours…" Kurama answered.

"I'm just happy you're not dead!" Kaori chirped.

"Yeah…" Link sighed.

"Well…Now that we are done with that little incident, I am assuming you have the boss key?" Kurama turned.

"Yes…" Link held up the key…

"And he has a giant hammer…" Katara said.

"You are letting Link wield a hammer?" Aya turned.

"Like we have a choice…" Navi said. "Besides, if he smashes his own head or something stupid like that, it's his fault not ours…I'll just laugh…"

"Good point…" Aya shrugged.

"You two sure you're up for a battle?" Joey turned.

"More ready than ever…" Kurama smiled.

"Yep…" Aya nodded.

"Let's just get this over with…" Navi sighed. They hopped over to the boss door, and used the key to unlock it… They went beyond it… There they were on a ledge and within hopping distance was a huge floating platform with holes in it… It was floating over a humongous pool of lava…

"That looks homely…" Aya commented first.

"Home sweet home…" Navi added to the sarcasm.

"That is so cool…" Joey was in a daze.

"Snap out of it!" Katara whacked him on the head.

"Ow!" Joey whined.

"Yay!" Link cheered, spoiling another moment…

"Wait…" Kurama started…

"What?" Navi turned to the redhead, before turning to what he was staring at. "Damn… Guys look!" Navi called out.

"What?" Link looked to the blue fairy…

"Look…." Kurama pointed finally, to a crumpled, unconscious figure in the middle of the platform… It was charred and bloody…

"Oh shit! It's Darunia!"

**A/n: **See! I'm alive…With a halfway funny chapter in my opinion… (I was drinking Dr. Pepper while I was doing this chapter…)

We'll play it by ear and see when the next chapter comes…

So, please review!!!! (Readies Scotty…)


	26. Medallion of Fire Part 6

**A/n: **AH! I'm so sorry! Here I am with **multiple chapters** for your delight, and as collateral for my apologies!!!

I was doing a bit of re-construction on my other chapter story, and I've been a bit busy lately, but don't worry! I'm here!

**Disclaimer: **If I owned this stuff, this story would be more than a fan fiction…

**Chapter 26: Medallion of Fire Part 6**

"_Look!" Kurama pointed finally; to a crumpled, unconscious figure in the middle of the platform…It was charred and bloody..._

"_Oh shit! It's Darunia!"_

"Ah!" Link jumped, staring at the Goron leader with a look of worry in his eyes.

"He shouldn't have gone in alone!" Joey cursed.

"Let's not worry about it…" Navi started, and turned to the group. There was sharpness in her voice. "Let's get down there, and see if he's alive…Then let's fight the big dragon thingy and heal him up later…"

"Good plan…" Katara chirped…The group hopped down to the floating platform… The girls ran over to the crumpled Goron…

"Oh…" Kaori sighed in relief…

"He's alive!" Aya turned to the guys…

"Good…" Kurama nodded his head… That was all that could be said… Within seconds, there was a burst of flames from the holes of the platform… Then, and a long, red dragon came out, letting out an earsplitting shriek as it flew around… It was a long, skinny dragon that had two little arms with threateningly long claws… It had a silvery helmet of sorts on its head that had two piercing yellow eyes appearing from under… A mane of fire flew behind it from its head and neck…

"How cute…" Joey said sarcastically, readying his sword…

"How are we going to do this?" Katara turned.

"Use the hammer…" Navi said bluntly...

"Oh yeah!" Link pulled out the Megaton Hammer with an enthusiasm that Navi shuddered at….

Though, Link's enthusiasm was broken when there was blast of fire in his direction… Yelping, Link hopped out of the way, and turned to the dragon… It hissed…

"Volvagia…" they heard Darunia's voice…

"Darunia!" Link turned to him… "Don't move too much…"

"He isn't moving…Just speaking…" Navi pointed out…

"Be careful…Brothers and Sisters…" Darunia managed to get out before falling unconscious again…"

"We'd best hurry…" Kurama said. "If not, Darunia will die…"

"Damn…" Joey cursed again…

Volvagia hissed again, and flew into one of the holes… After a couple it popped out of the next hole, hissing again and letting out another fire breath…

"AH!" Katara jumped of the way…

"Link, hit it with the hammer…" Kurama instructed.

"I can do that!" Link ran over and slammed down the hammer…Volvagia shrieked and flew up into the sky… Its loud shrieks of anger and pain began rumbling the platform…Rocks from the ceiling began to slam down…

"Holy Din!" Link jumped again and again, dodging rocks…

"Make sure Darunia is okay…" Kurama ran over to the Goron leader, blocking little rocks for the unconscious Goron.

"Doesn't he eat rocks?" Joey inquired, jumping back and forth…

"Not when he's unconscious, Joey…" Kurama simply answered… Volvagia came down and back into a hole… Link tried to hit it when it came up but it hit him when it flailed its head about, and knocked to the Hero of Time over…

"Link…" Kaori bent over…

"I'm….O…kay…" Link held a finger up in the air as he stood back up… Volvagia flew out of its hole and sent a huge blast of fire breath at the group…

"Eek!" Katara was pushed out of the way by Joey, who blocked with his own fire sword…The sword just seemingly deflected the fire…

"Joey, you're seemingly immune to this fire…" Kurama turned to the Spirit of Fire…

"And that means?" Joey lifted an eyebrow.

"…" Kurama sighed. "It means you could be our asset in defeating Volvagia…

"Oh yeah…" Joey slapped himself... Volvagia flew into another hole…It popped out behind Kaori, who shrieked, and jumped behind Link… Kurama plucked the hammer from Link's hands, and threw it over to Joey, who caught it in confusion.

"What?" Joey stared down at it.

"Remember the asset thing?" Kurama lifted an eyebrow. "Use this…I think you're the only one who can make it past the fire breath unscathed…"

"Okay…" Joey stared at the giant hammer…

"Besides, you might be better at wielding it than doofus over here…" Navi rolled her eyes.

"Hurry Joey!" Kurama said in alert as the dragon let out another scream as it breathed out more fire… Joey ran over, and hit it barely…But it was hard, with all of his energy… Volvagia cried out in pain, and angrily flew up to the ceiling again, screaming and letting more rubble fall to the floor… Volvagia flew down to the group, who finished dodging the boulders, and let out a huge blast of fire, the biggest it had let out yet…

"Holy Nayru!" Link exclaimed in desperation.

"Um…" Kaori stared at the blast of fire that hurled their way…They jumped out of the way, well most…Katara was pushed out of the way by Joey, who stood his ground.

"Joey!" Katara ignored common sense, and stared as the flames blasted at Joey… There was a flurry of flames and smoke…

"He's fine…" Kurama pointed a finger…Joey stood, completely unscathed as the fire dissipated… Joey had a determined look on his face… Volvagia, angered, barreled towards the guardian… Joey slammed the Megaton Hammer sideways, smashing against the dragon's face…It screamed louder, and flew into its hole…

"Here!" Joey threw the hammer back at Link, who shrieked, and picked it up when it hit the ground… Volvagia popped out a hole, and Joey ran over, swinging his sword and deflecting its fire breath… Kurama nodded at Link, who shrugged and ran up to the dragon, slamming down with all of this might… Volvagia shrieked loudly…Quite loudly, actually…

Volvagia flew up in the air, and flailed around wildly, screaming…Finally, the great dragon slammed down to the platform…

"Is it dead?" Link put the Megaton Hammer away, and pulled out the Master sword, poking the Fire Temple boss lightly… It let out a noise that sound almost like a whimper until it dissipated away…. A Piece of Heart and a blue portal was all that was left…

"Uh…" Katara interrupted a victorious silence.

"What?" Link spun around, stumbling, but regaining his balance… (He was doing his dubbed "We kicked ass dance")

"Darunia is gone…" Katara pointed to the spot the Goron used to be…

"Oh my Din!!!!" Link screamed in horror…

"…" Kurama just lifted an eyebrow…

"And…Where did he go?" Aya turned.

"Somewhere…" Navi inquired.

"Thanks…" Joey rolled his eyes…

"Watch it…You can deflect fire, but not a fairy's wrath…" Navi said.

"That sounded almost philosophical…" Aya glanced.

"I'm just good like that…" Navi said.

"I have a fairly good idea of what happened to Darunia…" Kurama said as Link picked up the piece of heart… "For now, let's just get to the portal…"

"I'd hope it would be obvious where he is…But whatever…" Navi sighed… The group stepped through the portal, and as expected, ended up in the Chamber of Sages…

"What would happen if I fell from this platform?" Link stared down curiously off of his platform.

"You'd fall into an endless of abyss of who-knows-what…" Navi mused.

"Can we try?" Joey chirped from his platform.

"No!" Link turned… "I just asked…."

"That would be fun though…" Navi pointed out.

"You all are mean…" Link whined.

"Ha…" Navi laughed… They turned to the platform they stood in front of, the red one… It glowed, and then a large, muscular figure rose, and stood on it…

"Hello Brothers and Sisters!" Darunia laughed.

"Darunia!" the group sighed in relief of his healed condition.

"Teabag the Benevolent!!" Link cheered. "He's alive!" Link did his "Teapot Dance" again…

"…" Darunia sighed loudly. "Brothers and Sisters… Can you believe it? I, Darunia, have awakened as the Sage of Fire!"

"It isn't that hard to believe…" Navi said, now sitting on Link's head.

"Teabag is a sage!" Link cheered.

"Woo-hoo…" Navi said in a monotonous tone.

"I can't thank you all enough…" Darunia went on, ignoring the antics of the Hero of Time. "You saved my life and my people…Now my people can rebuild Goron City again, and go on… The dragon is gone and now they can be free, for the most part, of Ganondorf…"

"But they won't be totally free until he's dead…" Kurama pointed out.

"Yes…" Darunia sighed… "Destiny's a funny thing, isn't it?"

"Funny, yes…" Aya nodded her head.

"Well, you guys surely impressed me…" Darunia let out a hearty laugh… "The kids, the Dodongo Busters that I knew five years ago are now heroes!"

"…" the group nodded.

"Okay, Brothers and Sisters…" Darunia held out his hand straight in front of him… Then, a glowing, red orb formed.

"Oh…Pretty…" Link said in awe…

"Take this, Brothers and Sisters…This is a symbol of my friendship!" Darunia smiled. "Take this, so I can my power to yours!"

"I love shiny things!" Link cheered… A medallion formed in his hands, and Link took it, stowing it away in his bag with the other two medallions…

"As I've said, I appreciate what you've done…But, now, I must let you go...Hurry on to the next temple, Brothers and Sisters!!" Darunia urged, before the blue portal engulfed the six heroes again…

The blue portal took them to Kakariko Village…

"I hate those portals sometimes…" Joey huffed.

"They give me a headache…" Katara agreed.

"Look…" Kurama looked up at Death Mountain… Everyone turned their heads up to the mountain, and there was an eruption of some sort… At that, the ring of fire around it disappeared, fizzling into a mere ring of grey smoke…

"Things that go boom and whoosh and stuff like that…" Link stared up in fascination.

"Yeah…Things that go boom…" Navi sighed.

"I'm tired…" Link rubbed his eyes… He turned to see that the sun was slowly setting…

"I'm kind of tired too…" Aya agreed.

"Well…How long were we in there?" Kaori inquired, turning.

"I'm guessing around a day and half or so…" Kurama shrugged, turning to Navi, you confirmed.

"Yeah…Around that…" Navi sighed.

"We're all tired." Katara agreed.

"Considering you were in a volcano for a day and half, and considering that two of you fell from dangerous heights and had, like, a two or more hour-long battle with a Goron-eating dragon, I'd say, yeah…You all have an excuse to be tired…" Navi rambled…

"I like Goron-eating dragons…" Link chirped.

"That's morbid…" Joey said as they walked through the village.

"I thought the dragon was cute…" Kaori smiled.

"Sure…In a fiery, carnivorous kind of way…" Aya agreed in a monotonous tone. After some silent walking, the group came to an inn….

_The next day…_

"…" Navi mumbled to herself… She rose up from her place on the nightstand (where she slept on Link's hat). She flew around, stretching… After a second, Navi found it necessary to wake the others up… She looked around the room, towards the window.

"Good morning…" a calm voice said from on of the beds… She turned, and Kurama had was sitting up in his bed, smiling.

"Morning…" Navi turned to the two blonds in the other two rooms. (They had two rooms, one where the girls stayed and one where the guys stayed.)

"Good luck on getting them awake…" Kurama said, standing up.

"Oh, I can do it…" She flew next to each of their ears, whispering something.

"Where?!" Joey hopped up in his bed, falling off of it in the process.

"What?" Link sat up.

"…" Kurama put his shirt and jacket on, realizing what Navi said was probably the closest thing to perverted.

"You're evil, fairy…" Joey said, assembling himself.

"Huh?" Link kept saying in a dazed voice.

"Now that we're ready, should we go see if the girls are ready?" Kurama questioned.

"Sure…" Joey smirked, but yelped when Navi hit him in the head.

"Let's just go, you pervert…" Navi said monotonously. They walked to a room across the hall…After getting the girls, they left the inn…

"Where do we go now?" Katara asked, now that the travelers were sitting outside the village, eating some food they bought earlier.

"Water was the next sage right?" Kurama turned to Navi.

"Yup…" Navi answered.

"Why don't we go to the Zoras then?" Kurama suggested. "If anyone knows about the Water Temple, it'll be the Zoras."

"Water? OH!" Link cheered, jumping up. "The shiny liquid-y stuff that you swim and go 'whoosh, I can swim and do stuff like that'!"

"Exactly…" Navi sighed.

"To that one place then!!!!!" Link moved in the total opposite direction of where the Zora's Domain was.

"Hey, genius…" Navi called. "It's this way…"

"It's what?" Link spun around in a goofy fashion.

"This way…As in, not in the direction of the castle town."

"I totally knew that!" Link declared, and went in the right direction, a finger in the air.

"Well…Follow the leader…" Aya said as the group followed the pointy-eared hero.

"I want to see him run into a wall or something…" Navi laughed a bit…

"Well, since he doesn't pay attention all the time…" Katara started.

"You're mean!" Link whined.

"Not mean, realistic…" Aya stated.

"I will not run into a wall, turning his head, now walking backwards.

"At this rate, you'll trip and fall, Link…" Kaori pointed out with a finger in the air.

"I will-" Link stopped as he ran, back-first, into a tree…

"Correction…He will run into a tree, not a wall…" Navi pointed out.

"Evil being!!!!" Link jumped up and pointed a finger at the tree. "How dare you get in my way? I will send you to the guillotine for tripping me!! Die!!!" Link started to laugh maniacally.

"I think he's bipolar…" Joey suggested, staring at the Hero of Time ramble on maniacally…It was something about guillotines, tape, an apple (green one, preferably), rocks, staples, and a plastic cup.

"And then you'll explode into a cloud of purple smoke with green sparkling objects of total and complete chaos while I eat my apple and laugh at your suffering!!" Link laughed menacingly for a few more minutes before turning back to the group with his usual goofy smile. "Alright!"

"…" there was a silence amongst the group.

"What?" Link asked, as if he hadn't just gone into another one of his insane rambles.

"Let's just move on…" Navi shook it off.

"Good idea…"

**A/n: **So… Okay… I have nothing to say….


	27. A Dungeon of Ice

**A/n: **Here is another chapter!!!!!!!

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own this stuff…

**Chapter 27: A Dungeon of Ice **

"It's getting colder as we move on…" Katara pointed out. The heroes had been traveling further and further down Zora's River. The Octoroks that were at every corner had been a giveaway that something was off. Though, the sharp winds and bitter cold that kept getting colder made the group more worried.

"I can't feel my fingers…" Joey commented, trying to make the atmosphere more lighthearted…. Since they really didn't have anyway to keep warm, they focused all of their energy in trying to keep warm…The only noise for the past hour was Link's occasional sneezes.

"Well…" Kurama looked up at the sky… "That makes everything better….It's snowing…"

"Snow…" Link stared up. "Yay white stuff that falls to the ground and goes 'I'm cold, I'll freeze the ground and stuff'."

"Link is narrating stuff again…" Navi said, sitting on the Hero of Time's head.

"Doesn't he always do that?" Aya sighed. The group ignored more Octoroks and came to the ledge in front of the waterfall entrance to the domain.

"What do I do again?" Link turned to the rest.

"Play that one song…" Joey said.

"What one song?" Link replied, lifting a finger in the air.

"That song of the one princess chick…" Joey turned.

"OH….." Link pulled out his ocarina.

"You'd think he'd remember…We use that song on everything else practically…" Navi commented as Link played Zelda's Lullaby… After a second, the waterfall split apart and the group hopped through the tunnel… Once on the other side, a sharp, icy cold overwhelmed the group…

"Oh my…" Katara stared. Zora's Domain, a once warm, welcoming place filled with crystal waters was now a cold, bitter, and completely frozen wasteland… Every bit of once-soothing water was frozen solid… There was an eerie emptiness that filled the domain, and there wasn't a single Zora in sight…Just ice…

"Where are all of the Zoras?" Joey turned, apparently angered.

"Hm…" Kurama hopped down to the frozen pool below… "They're here…"

"What?" Everyone else hopped down… Navi stopped, and flew to the ground level, staring into the frozen depths below…

"That is the sickest, or most disturbing thing I've ever seen…" Navi commented, flying up to her position around Link's head. The rest stared down too…

Below the frozen pool were the Zoras… They were frozen, encased in the waters below… Once the group bent down to get a better look, they saw them wide-eyed…It was as if they were frozen in time…They had many looks on the there faces (the ones that they could see anyway) and they were expressions of fear, surprise, and anger… They could only see a few…. It was just like they were stuck in a tomb of ice…

"I'm beginning to hate this Ganondorf guy even more…" Joey stood up.

"How dare he?" Link jumped up with a look of sadness on his face… "They were our friends!"

"That's probably why he did it…" Kurama added. "They were a threat…Get rid of the Zoras, you mess up the water system to the rest of Hyrule…And he knew they were our friends…"

"I know…but…" Link had a sad look on his face that held childlike innocence… "…"

"He's an asshole…Really…" Navi said. "But we have to move on now… Let's see what became of the King…and whatever her name is…"

"Ruto?" Aya turned.

"Oh….her…" Katara said in a tart tone.

"…" Joey rubbed the back of his head. The group ran up to the King's Chamber… They were more shocked to see the King was there…But King Zora was frozen solid, encased in a tomb of Red Ice… Ruto was nowhere to be seen.

"Ice that's red…" Katara said to herself. "That's odd…"

"The entrance to Zora's Fountain is still open…" Kurama pointed out.

"I wonder if their deity survived." Navi inquired.

"I don't know…" Link sighed and the group ran past the frozen king… Once outside, the bitter cold met them again… The fountain seemed to have taken quite a beating itself… There were floating platforms of ice everywhere…Jabu-Jabu was gone, and there was no trace left of him at all… It was snowing very hard in the fountain, almost as if a blizzard could strike at any moment.

"I-I-I'm very c-c-cold…" Joey rubbed his hands together.

"Well…Considering you're the Spirit of Fire in the middle of a blizzard…Sort of…" Navi pondered.

"What do we do?" Kaori asked.

"What's that hole in the wall over there?" Link pointed his finger at what looked like a cave entrance…

"A cave?" Aya suggested.

"I'm guessing that's what it is…" Navi said. "Oh and there is a Great Fairy nearby…"

"There is?" Joey turned.

"Actually, it was here the last time we came here, five years ago…" Navi pointed out. "But since we didn't have much time, I didn't say anything."

"Thank you…Could she help us?" Joey cocked an eyebrow.

"She is the Great Fairy for a reason…" Katara snickered a bit.

"Why am I being ganged up on?" Joey complained.

"Because…It's fun…" Navi laughed.

"What's a Great Fairy again?" Link turned. Everyone slapped themselves.

"Uh…A fairy that is great…" Aya said sarcastically.

"Wait…I remember was she is now!" Link cheered at his own memory-span. "She is the one dude-person who gave us the whoosh-y fire stuff…"

"Din's Fire?" Kurama inquired. "We do have that, don't we?"

"We just haven't used it yet…" Aya shrugged.

"You're going to have to hop on the platforms or take a stab at hypothermia by swimming to get to her cave, though…" Navi informed.

"Where is the cave?" Link looked up at his fairy partner.

"On the other side of the fountain…" Navi said nonchalantly.

"And you make that seem like no big deal…" Joey whined.

"It's not as if I'm making you trudge the Haunted Wastelands blind-folded or something…" Navi shot back. "There are nifty things called ice platforms you can easily hop across to get to it."

"Whatever…" Joey sighed… The group hopped (carefully, that is) across the platforms to a small cave on the other side of the fountain… There were boulders blocking it.

"Why didn't you tell us about that?" Joey looked up at the blue fairy.

"What do you expect me to have?" Navi started. "Super-Boulder Sensing abilities?"

"I want to sense boulders!" Link cheered. "And grass….I want to talk to grass telepathically…So I can know what it feels like to live in ground…"

"Ignoring that…" Navi sighed. "Link…Nincompoop…Use the bombs…"

"Portable Shiny Things That Explode?" Link looked up at Navi with childish eagerness.

"Yes…Use the Portable Shiny Things That Explode…" Navi sighed.

"Yes!" Link cheered and threw a bomb at the rocks, causing them to explode…This freed up the entrance to the cave, and the group walked threw… It was the same as they remembered, with the shiny walls with water flowing down them and torches on either side of calm pool of water…. There was Triforce mark on the ground…

"Do I play that one thing?" Link looked up.

"Sure…" Navi sighed.

"Go music!" Link cheered again, and played Zelda's Lullaby… Hysterical laughter filled up the cave, and the familiar, skimpily dressed Great Fairy popped out of the pool, floating in a sitting position as she stared down at the heroes…

"Welcome, young ones…" the Great Fairy smiled. "I'm the Great Fairy of Magic!"

"That is so cool…" Link stared.

"How perverted…" Joey commented.

"You idiots!" Katara hit both of them upside the heads. "Be respectful! You're talking to a Great Fairy!"

"Link started it!" Joey smirked a bit.

"I did what?" Link turned.

"Both of you started it!" Katara glared daggers at them… "Quit being perverts and listen!"

"Did you see her outfit?" Joey turned to the Spirit of Water.

"Yes!" Katara shot back.

"But that doesn't mean you have to be perverts…" Aya sighed. "She is a powerful, spiritual being who happens to be floating here staring at you!"

"Yes, exactly!" Katara glared, and turned back to the Great Fairy, who was just sitting there smiling.

"It is quite alright, young ones…" the Great Fairy didn't seem fazed. "Since you have managed to find me, I will grant you all a powerful spell!" the Great Fairy held up a finger. "Please hold out your hands…"

The group shrugged and held out their hands… The Great Fairy kissed the air, and soon, each hero began to glow… There was a wisp of wind as a glowing orb appeared in their hands… The magnificent orbs were each a specific color, the usual color for each: Link's was orange, Kurama's was green, Joey's was red, Kaori's was purple, Aya's was yellow, and Katara's was blue… The glowing slowly faded away, and the orbs seemed to disappear inside of them.

"I've granted you each the powerful spell called Farore's Wind!" the Great Fairy smiled. "It is a warping spell that can only be used in dungeons… If you cast it you'll create something called a warp point…You can keep these warp points existent for as long as you want, and then dispel them at your own will… This could come in quite handy…Just remember it's for dungeons only!"

"That is just nifty…" Aya smiled.

"I like warp-y things!" Link cheered.

"When battle has made you weary, please come back to see me!" the Great Fairy said before laughing and disappearing again…

"Well…Mission accomplished…" Navi said as they left the cave…

"I say we should see what is in that cave Link pointed out…" Kurama suggested…

"We've got nothing better to do…" Joey shrugged. "Until we figure more about this Water Temple and Water Sage, we need to do something productive…"

The group hopped more ice platforms, and made it to the entrance to the cave, or "Ice Cavern" as Navi referred to it as… They entered the cavern, and found it was just as chilly as it was outside, if not colder… The walls were completely ice, and the ground was covered in powdery snow… There were icicles hanging and dropping occasionally from the ceiling…

"I feel warm and cozy all of a sudden…" Joey said wryly as the travelers ventured farther inside.

"It's icy…" Link said.

"I called it the Ice Cavern for a reason…" Navi replied in a tart tone.

"Oh…But it is…" Link countered.

"You're impossible…" Navi sighed in defeat of the goofy hero. The travelers past a room with monsters blowing freezing breath… After avoiding them, they came to a room with a tall, rounding ledge that had Blue Keese flying around.

"What do those Keese do?" Kaori inquired.

"When they touch you, you turn to ice…." Navi pointed out.

"Dat sucks…" Joey sighed. Kaori and Link shot down the Keese with their arrows to make everyone's lives easier… After climbing to the ledge, they saw a strange torch; one with blue fire erupting from it.

"That is Blue Fire…" Navi explained. "It's very helpful, actually…It melts Red Ice…And that is what is around King Zora…"

"It's pretty…" Link stuck his hand in the flame, only to bring back out quickly… "My hands numb!"

"It isn't like normal fire…" Navi started again. "Instead of being hot, it is very cold…So, when it touches your skin directly, it reduces it to just numbness…"

"Oh…" Link said, wagging his hand around, trying to regain feeling… He cheered out in victory when he could feel it again.

The travelers caught some of the strange blue flames in bottles, and they used it to melt more entry ways to other parts of the cavern… They managed to get to a room where there were silver rupees… And on the other side of it was a barred door… The rupees were almost virtually impossible to get to… But there was a block of ice, and the floor was slippery… So, the group kept pushing the block around, and finally managed to get to all of the rupees, and the door opened up… Once inside the next room, they were greeted White Wolfos…

"It's cute!" Kaori squealed.

"Yeah… I've always found bloodlust adorable…" Aya sighed, forming her long sword.

"You know what I mean!" Kaori formed her bow.

"Die you evil being!" Link laughed menacingly as he slashed the White Wolfos. Joey just shot a fire ball at it, and it screeched in deep pain… After some more slashing, the White Wolfos fell to the ground in a motionless heap, and began dissipating in a blue mist… After the mist vanished, a large chest materialized in its place… Link went over, eager to see what new things would be found… Once open Link looked down…

"There boots!" Link exclaimed, pulling out a pair of brown boots. He fell over. "They're kinda heavy…Sort of…" Link pointed out with a finger in the air… He looked down to discover the source of the weight came from iron fused on the boot.

"There are five other pairs in here…" Kurama pointed out, lifting another pair out of the chest.

"Yay…Convenient…" Navi mused. The group pulled out their pairs of boots.

"What in the hell are these things anyway?" Joey turned to the fairy guide for answers.

"Iron Boots…" Navi started. "They were created by people long ago to be able to stand under water or something… Actually they were used in a variety of ways."

"Like how?" Katara chirped.

"Um…Walking against strong winds, stuff like that…" Navi explained.

"Cool…" Link marveled over his new footwear… Suddenly, a light thump was heard… The group turned around to see a certain, familiar Sheikah…

"Captain Teapot!" Link jumped up, ready to bear hug Sheik, but Joey held him back from doing so.

"Captain Teapot doesn't want a hug today…" Joey said.

"But Captain Teapot…" Link sighed in defeat, and stood there as the group all turned towards Sheik…

"This ice…" Sheik started in a cryptic tone. "This ice is unnatural…It is created by an evil curse…"

"Curse?" Katara inquired.

"A curse created by the Evil King, to be exact." Sheik continued on in his monotonous tone. "The curse on the Water Temple is the source of it… If you don't cut off the curse on the temple, then this ice will never melt."

"I hate that guy…" Joey cursed.

"I managed to save the Zora princess from the ice before it completely froze over." Sheik stated. "But she went ahead to the Water Temple…"

"That sucks…" Katara said wryly.

"…" Sheik let out what sounded like a snicker, but went on. "Time passes and people move on with their lives… Like a river's flow, it never ends… A child mind with change to noble ambition… A young love with grow into deep passion… The water's surface reflects growth… Now, reflect upon yourself as you listen to the Serenade of Water…" Sheik pulled out his harp, and began plucking out the strings… An eerie, but soothing melody came forth, ringing and echoing through the desolate walls of the Ice Cavern…It almost made the creepy, unwelcoming walls of the dungeon seem warm and soothing…After a second more, the melody's notes stopped, and Sheik put away his harp.

"This song will take you to the Water Temple…" Sheik said. "I trust that you all, Hero of Time…Spirits…will have courage enough to enter the temple and confront the evil there… I'm sure you all can do as much…" Sheik nodded, and stepped back, throwing down a Deku Nut….After a flash, he was gone…

"He is weird…" Link sighed, putting his newfound boots and ocarina in his bag… "My bag is heavier…"

"Well you have Iron Boots in it…" Navi sighed.

"Good point…" Joey smiled… The heroes quickly exited the Ice Cavern, and were greeted by the harsh conditions of the fountain…The winds had grown stronger and snow fell harder… They quickly entered the domain, and stopped next to the King…

"What do we do?" Link turned.

"Remember the Blue Fire?" Navi asked.

"Yeah…" Link stared.

"Let it loose so it can melt the King…" Navi said.

"But won't it make him numb and stuff?" Link lifted and eyebrow.

"It won't come in contact with his skin…" Navi pointed out.

"Oh…" Link stared. "But….whatever…" Link set the blue flames loose and the red ice quickly melted… The group quickly hopped to the greeting platform.

"…" the large King stared down at them. "Why…You guys wouldn't happen to be the ones that saved me, would you?"

"That would be us!" Link cheered.

"The last thing I remember was Zora's Domain being attacked…" the King was silent. "Well…Anyways, take these as an expression of my gratitude for saving me…" There was some blue glowing and six blue tunics appeared in front of the group.

"Oh…Attractive…" Aya said, holding the new tunic in her hands.

"These are Zora Tunics…" King Zora started. "With them, you should be able to breath under water…They're created from the gills of fish!"

"I'm a fish!" Link cheered.

"Not yet…" Navi said.

"Damn…" Link cursed.

"Now…Where is my Ruto?" King Zora started in a worried tone.

"Well…" Link rubbed his head and turned to the group. "Where did Captain Teapot say she went?"

"He's not Captain Teapot and he said that she went to the Water Tempe…" Navi stared at the little Pow-wow…

"Actually…" Kurama turned to the huge King as the unofficial spokesperson of the group. "She apparently escaped the ice, and went to the Water Temple…"

"Oh…My dear Ruto could be in danger!" King Zora worried.

"I highly doubt it…" Navi stared.

"…" the King was off in "I'm-too-busy-worrying-about-my-stuck-up-daughter" land…

"Let's just go…" Navi said. "You could set up a bond fire around him and he probably wouldn't notice…"

"Yeah…" The travelers went back to the entrance.

"Why don't you play the Serenade of Water, Link?" Kurama turned.

"The what-y what?" Link turned.

"The song Sheik taught you…" Kurama sighed.

"Oh…Captain Teapot's theme song!" Link pulled out his ocarina and began playing the melody… A blue light engulfed the travelers…

The light cleared, and the heroes found themselves in what the concluded used to be Lake Hylia… The once peaceful reservoir was now a mere puddle of what it used be… The skies were a dark grey color and it was spilling out a constant flow of rain… Despite the constant downpour, the lake was still dry, with only a small pool around the island they stood on…

"Why is the only water around this area?" Katara asked.

"It is because we're standing on top of the Water Temple…" Navi said.

"We are?" Link asked.

"Yup…" Navi said. "Get yourselves ready, we've got a temple to enter… The entrance is underwater…Actually the majority of the temple is underwater…" The group got themselves situated in their Zora Tunics and Iron Boots… They hopped off of the edge, and let themselves sink down into the water…

**A/n: **There you have my update for now… I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can this week… So… I have nothing else to say really…

Sorry for the late update…Like I said: busy and I was revising another story…

Please review! (Readies Scotty)


	28. Medallion of Water Part 1

**A/n: **Hello everyone! I have come to update, yet again… I don't have any announcements… Okay then… Shall we move on?

**Disclaimer: **If I owned any of this stuff, I wouldn't be living in Indiana…

**Chapter 28: Medallion of Water Part 1**

The first thing that hit the group after their entry into the water was the abnormal iciness, definitely a contrast to the soothing warmth it contained when Lake Hylia was more that just a pathetic reservoir… The second thing was the sudden rush of breathing in a deep breath, just as if they were on land, breathing air… It gave all of them a strange feeling and made them lightheaded for a small moment… As they sank to the bottom, there was a silence between them as they tried to regain their voices and get used to the atmosphere of the underwater world…

"…I…am cold…" Joey managed to croak out after a second of regaining himself.

"Oh…my…Din…I…feel…weird…" Link coughed out the words one-by-one.

"Well…You're underwater, breathing normally with big pieces of iron attached to your feet…" Navi spoke as fluently underwater as she did on land in air. "I think you all have an excuse to feel weird." The heroes decided to stay where they were a few minutes, until finally they all got the hang of the whole "speaking-underwater-thing."

"I think…I have the hang of this…" Kaori smiled, satisfied in completing her first official sentence underwater.

"Well... Those Zoras make this underwater thing look so easy…" Aya sighed, turning.

"Well… They led us wrong!" Link declared.

"Yeah, don't worry about it right now…" Navi sighed. "Not like they can do much right now anyway…"

"So…" Kurama interrupted. "Maybe we should focus on getting in the temple…"

"Good idea…" Navi said. "The Water Sage and stuff can't awaken if we stand outside of the temple…" The group inspected the entrance… There was a large entrance that was gated over…And over it was a bluish-purple jewel…

"I think the jewel controls the entrance…" Kurama looked up.

"Um…I'll just go along with it…" Joey shrugged.

"The hookshot…" Navi finished Kurama's thought. "Hey nincompoop…Use the hookshot to hit the jewel…"

"You mean hit the pretty thingy-mabob with the nifty whoosh thing?" Link looked up at the fairy.

"Yes…Hit the pretty-thingy-mabob with the nifty whoosh thing…" Navi answered.

"Nifty!" Link cheered, pulling out the hookshot, the only seemingly useful weapon in this environment. He hit the jewel square-on and the jewel detached from the wall, causing the gate to rise up… After that, the entrance was freed.

"To the Water Temple…" Joey twirled his finger, openly un-enthusiastic with the whole situation.

"What?" Katara turned over Joey.

"Water…" Joey cringed… "Do I have to go?"

"You're here!" Katara stomped her foot in declaration. "If I had to tolerate your Fire Temple, then you have to go along with the Water Temple…"

"It wasn't MY Water Temple!" Joey shot back.

"Whatever…You've turned into such a pyro…" Katara eyed him.

"Yeah…So!" Joey whined.

"Just go…please?" Katara gave him the "puppy-dog" look.

"Okay…" Joey put his arms down in defeat… "You defeated me!"

"What's going on again?" Link completely interrupted the moment.

"Just don't worry about…" Navi sighed.

"Can we go now?" Aya turned.

"Yeah…" Navi said and the group entered… Once past, the looked up and saw light, and assumed that there was a ledge above… So, the group took off the Iron Boots (which were over their normal shoes, except Link, who took time trying to get them off…)

"Wow…" Katara gaped. The temple itself was a work of majesty… Crystal clear waters covered the majority of the temples outlets, but top levels were fully exposed… A large tower was built in the center, and designs decorated the walls of it, along with a couple of dimly lit torches… Statues were scattered here and there, and there was a large opening to what the group assumed was the boss room… Other than that, everything else was lost beneath in a large pool of water.

"This looks fun…" Joey's eye twitched in mild annoyance.

"Get over it…" Katara growled.

"Yep…" Joey said in the same annoyed tone…

"Where do we go?" Kaori asked.

"Yeah…Didn't Sheik say that the fish-chick was here somewhere?" Aya inquired.

"Well…He did say Muto, Kuto, Luto…Whatever the hell her name is was here…" Navi mused.

"Maybe she's underwater in one of the bottom rooms…" Kurama pointed out…

"She is a fish…" Joey shrugged at the redhead's suggestion.

"If I were a fish, where would I go?" Link thought.

"I don't know…I'm not a fish…" Navi sighed.

"Well…" Katara rolled her eyes… "Personally, I don't want to see her…"

"Why?" Joey turned.

"…" Katara tapped her foot in annoyance.

"Am I missing something here?" Joey turned to the rest.

"Last I remember, Joey, you were her fiancée…" Kurama smirked a bit in amusement.

"I was?" Joey said. "Damn…I must've forgotten."

"It was five years ago…" Kurama said.

"How'd I get in that position again?" Joey rubbed his head.

"After we finished Jabu-Jabu's belly that time ago, you accepted the Zora's Sapphire, and in turn became her groom-to-be…" Kurama explained. "She did say that the stone was the equivalent to the Zora's engagement ring…"

"Dammit…" Joey cursed. "I'm not getting married to a fish!"

"Like hell I'm letting her touch you!" Katara shot out. "I will personally beat her with her own element…I, the Spirit of Water; will not hesitate to resort to violence!"

"…" Joey took slight side-step, afraid of Katara's outburst.

"…" Katara smiled. "Sorry about that…"

"Yeah… Understandable…" Aya agreed. "I can't see Ruto with him anyway…She's too high maintenance…"

"And a lot of other things I will strain from saying…" Katara's eye twitched violently…

"Like what?" Link asked in total obliviosness.

"Don't ask…" Katara twitched again.

"…" Kurama just smiled and rubbed his head at all of this.

"It's stuff that might damage you, Link…" Aya smiled.

"Oh…Damaging stuff…Like bombs? Or laser beams? Or the Giant Iron-Rhinos of Impenetrability?" Link rambled.

"How about we just move on now?" Navi interrupted. "How about just starting from the bottom up?"

"Works for me…" Kaori smiled, slipping the Iron Boots back on. Everyone did so, and the hopped back in the water, sinking down to the very bottom… They looked around until Link pointed to an entrance to a hall of sorts enthusiastically, excitedly explaining that the Banana Gods of Almighty Navigating-ness called him to it (no one even bothered to ask what bananas had to do with navigation…). The heroes walked through the winding hall, and came to a large room that had two obviously unlit torches, along with several stone pots and an open ceiling, that led to the top levels…

And there was something else…

A familiar fish princess with a big head to be exact…

"Oh dammit…" Joey slapped himself.

"…" Katara did a violent, full-body twitch.

"Restrain yourself, Katara…" Aya whispered.

"Hi!" Link waved enthusiastically.

"…" what they presumed was the Zora Princess eyed the group carefully. "Joey?"

"Huh?" Joey looked up, cringing slightly at the sound of her voice.

"So, it is you!" a smile adorned Ruto's face. "It's all of you! Joey!!!" She cheered loudly at the sound of her voice saying Joey's name.

Ruto had changed quite a bit… No longer was she a short, scrawny fish-thing with a big head; now, she was a (dare we say it) busty, vivacious figured fish-thing with a big head… Aside from getting bigger in other regions, she had grown quite a bit taller, being around Aya and Katara's height… Her once stubby fins had grown long and flowingly… They were shiny and sparkling, making them seem almost see-through… She had pink, dangling earrings from her ears, too…

"You, Joey, are a very cruel man to have kept me waiting these five long years…" Ruto declared her amethyst eyes boring into Joey.

"Hey, not like I had a choice in the matter!" Joey lifted his hands in defense. "I was away for five years…"

"We went sleep!" Link cheered. "And it was all whooshes with the whoosh…"

"…" Ruto stared at the green-clad Hero of Time strangely. "Anyway… I haven't forgotten the promise you made to me five years ago…I've been waiting for you to return so we could wed…"

"…" Joey cringed.

"But I guess now isn't the time to talk about weddings…" Ruto shrugged.

"There isn't a good time to talk about that…" Katara growled from between her teeth.

"What is your problem?" Ruto stared in sheer amusement at the Spirit of Water.

"Oh…Nothing at all…" Katara twitched again.

"Are you angry because Joey likes a fine, beautiful princess like me and not someone like you?" Ruto mused.

"What do you mean by that?" Katara hissed.

"You know what I mean…" Ruto laughed.

"…" Katara glared.

"Anyways…" Ruto turned away from Katara, chuckling. "I guess you've already seen it… Zora's Domain is totally frozen over!"

"Uh…So that is what the weird cold-stuff was…" Link had his hand to his chin in thought.

"A strange man saved me from the ice, and I came here…He said his name was Sheik and he had to wait for the Heroes to come…" Ruto said.

"Yeah…Captain Teapot said that he saved you…" Link pointed.

"Captain Teapot?" Ruto questioned.

"Don't ask…" Aya held up a hand.

"His attention span has grown shorter in the passing years." Navi said.

"Oh…" Ruto shrugged. "So I assume you are the 'Heroes' that Sheik spoke then?"

"Sure…We'll go with that…" Link smiled.

"Anyway…" Ruto said. "I refuse to leave here until I get to the bottom of this…I won't just sit here as my home remains frozen…I know my dad is probably worried sick, but then again when is he ever not? The Water Temple is the only place I know of that can hold the answer to unfreezing the domain…"

"It is under a curse…" Kurama jumped in. "If we break the curse on this place, there is an excellent chance we can unfreeze Zora's Domain…At least, according to Sheik…"

"Yeah…" Ruto nodded. "Are you guys in to help?"

"Yeah! Because the Magnificent Ruler of Teapots said so!" Link cheered.

"Who?" Navi stared oddly at the Hero of Time.

"Captain Teapot, duh!" Link said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Captain Teapot is his alias…"

"You've got some serious issues…" Navi said.

"Yes, we're in…" Navi, the unofficial spokesperson of the group, answered.

"Help would be nice…" Ruto nodded. "But how do we go about doing it?"

"You know the Water Temple better than we do, right?" Aya asked.

"Yes…" Ruto started. "It is the place where we Zoras worship and honor the spirits of water… It's our sanctuary, you could say… It was hidden beneath water to prevent wrongful entry; so really, it's rare for humans to be able to enter…"

"Why was it sealed off beneath water like that?" Kaori chirped.

"Purity…" Ruto said. "Water is pure, or is believed to be in my culture…So, if people enter under wrong reasons, it corrupts the pure water…Very few, if any at all, were able to enter other than Zoras…Yeah…It's a complicated reason, and bizarre, but it's my people's belief…"

"Purity…" Kurama repeated, noting it in his head.

"So…Now that it has been revealed, some have probably been able to enter…Though the deep pools of water have been the Water Temple's saving grace…" Ruto smiled triumphantly.

"How so?" Navi was now perched on Link's shoulder, taking in all of the information given by the princess.

"It can change levels!" Ruto revealed the secret. "There are only three places in the entire temple that can change the water level of the temple from full, medium, and completely empty….And those places are three Triforce mark in certain places…At the Triforce mark, you have to play the song of the Royal Family…"

"And only a few know that…" Navi completed her thought.

"Exactly…" Ruto shrugged. "So, really, that is the only thing that has kept the temple halfway safe…But I know that there is a curse on this place…I can practically taste the evil here…"

"It's pretty obvious…" Aya sighed.

"Yep…Now, listen to me…" Ruto looked at all of the heroes (though only glanced at Katara). "I can lead you to the first Triforce mark…From there, you can pretty much figure out what to do, but it's up to you to find out where the others are and stuff…"

"Wait a second, you're not going?" Joey inquired.

"Exactly…" Ruto declared. "I'm going on by myself… I can go on alone, and see what to do…"

"Alone?" Joey lifted an eyebrow.

"Yep…" Ruto winked. "I can handle it by myself... I can handle whatever, but you guys should hurry…I mean I can't really tell you how long I can go alone…But I trust you…"

"Don't die or anything…" Joey nodded.

"Oh, you're so sweet…" Ruto smiled at Joey… She glided over to right in front of Joey. The Spirit of Fire's surprise, the Zora Princess kissed him straight on the lips… It only lasted a minute, but Joey's amber eyes were wide in surprise… "I'll be fine, darling!"

"…" Katara was completely shocked.

"Now…" Ruto went back to her place, but didn't stand. "Follow me!" She began to slowly rise up past the open ceiling…The group quickly (as much as they could anyway) scrambled out of their Iron Boots and floated up after Ruto, who went faster once seeing them fully ready…She brought them to a ledge, where they climbed up out of the water…

"Now hurry!" Ruto instructed. "You should know what to do! I'll be waiting somehow!" With those final words and last flirtatious wink towards Joey, Ruto sank down and disappeared in the water.

…

"What do we do again?" Link looked up, causing the entire group to fall over.

"What were you doing through that entire conversation?" Navi flew in Link's face.

"I was daydreaming about cuccos in tribal masks dancing around a bond fire singing Saria's Song in gibberish while hopping on one foot and slapping their butts…"

"…" another one of Link's strange rants reduced the group to silence.

"I won't even ask…" Navi said.

"I don't want to know…" Aya sighed.

"Um…" Kaori stared oddly at Link.

"What?" Link turned.

"Nothing…" Navi sighed loudly…

"I hate to interrupt this moment, but we found the Triforce mark…" Kurama pointed to a neatly designed Triforce insignia in the wall…

"Oh…I play that one song right?" Link turned.

"Finally you get the hang of things…" Navi said, but slapped herself when Link played Epona's Song.

"You spoke too soon, Navi…" Aya turned up the annoyed pixie…

"I should know better than to say stuff like that…" Navi flickered in annoyance. "Zelda's Lullaby you moron!"

"OH!" Link cheered and played the other song instead…With that, the water level sank and sank until there was none left at all and the temple was completely drained.

"I saw a door behind Ruto when we were talking to her…" Kurama said. "Maybe there is something useful behind it…"

"Sure…" Aya shrugged.

"Works for me…" Kaori turned to Link, who was cheering.

"Geronimo!" Link yelled and hopped down to opening where the water pool used to be, back to ground level.

"Follow the green idiot I suppose…" Navi flew after him. Kurama, Kaori, and Aya flew in after him.

"…" Katara readied to hop down, but was stopped by Joey.

"Hey, Kat, you okay?" Joey turned.

"It's Katara, and yes, I'm peachy…" Katara snapped.

"What did I do?" Joey shot out.

"It doesn't matter!" Katara snapped again. "Let's just get moving so we can save your precious fiancée!"

"Is that what this is about...?" Joey turned.

"What do you think?" Katara shot. "Listen… I don't care…Just leave me alone, okay?" Katara's blue eyes gave the Spirit of Fire an icy glare. "Don't mess with me anymore…I just want…never mind…" With that said, the Spirit of Water hopped down the ledge, too.

"Katara!" Joey called down. She didn't respond as she flew down to the bottom. Joey stared, but just followed after the rest of the group…

**A/n:** Sorry about the non-multiple chapter update…I'll try to have some more chapters up this weekend… Anyways… This should be an interesting temple, no?

Anyways, review!!! (Readies Scotty).


	29. Medallion of Water Part 2

**A/n: **Heya! Here I come bearing the new chapter or so! Not much else to say…

Though, I've got a favor to ask of anyone who bothers to read these a/n… I have posted a new Zelda story (I know, I've already got two chapter stories going) and it is called _Fallen From Grace _and it's a different, almost cynical Link POV story… I would **really **appreciate feedback on it from some of the readers of this story! (Though, it's okay…It's going pretty well so far! )

I'll shut up…

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Zelda…If I did I would be doing something other than writing fan fiction…

**Chapter 29: Medallion of Water Part 2**

The tension amongst the group was very thick… Very thick… It was so thick that it would take more than Link's sword to cut it (as Navi had insisted, since someone made the mistake of saying the tension was thick…Then, Link wouldn't shut up about cutting tension.)

The others had pretty much figured out that Katara and Joey were not on the best of terms… (Well, except Link, who remained oblivious to anything going on, as usual) No one dared to say anything to either of them, fearing that doing so would probably have catastrophic results, since both of them had…bad tempers…

"So, what about that water?" Navi broke the silence… "It's cold isn't it….?"

"Yeah…Freezing…" Aya joined in on the pathetic attempt at breaking silence… It was driving the others (not Katara and Joey), the silence was… It was very unusual for there to be silence… Considering that even sleeping was noising (Link and Joey both snored…)

"I feel uncomfortable…" Kaori piped.

"Tell me about it…" Navi agreed.

Joey and Katara were on opposite sides of the group… Granted, Joey had turned every now and again towards the angered Spirit of Water, showing a bit of longing for a second before turning back to anger… Katara didn't even do as such… She just kept her stone-cold gaze forward, not acknowledging the rest of the group… She practically had an aura of ice…

"This is pleasant…" Aya said again. "

"How long has this gone on?" Kurama turned to the rest.

"For a few hours now…." Navi answered… "How long? Let's see…Uh… Well, we have found all three water-level changers…"

"That's a long time…" Link finally decided to enter the conversation… "Let's see…We have three keys…Gary, Pooky, and Edward…"

"I still don't get the whole key-naming thing…" Aya sighed.

"I just don't get Link in general…" Navi declared.

"Link what?" Link looked up, having spaced out again.

"Nothing…" Navi sighed, and they continued…

(**A/n: **I hated the Water Temple, so excuse me if this section is only a few parts long…)

"Where do we go from here?" Joey finally spoke after about two and a half hours of being totally dead silent. (This, according to Navi, was a terrific feat.)

"Somewhere…in this temple…with flying ReDeads…" Link said.

"Never mind…" Joey went back to his dead silent-ness.

"That conversation had longevity…" Aya said sarcastically.

"I know…I thought it would never end…" Kaori smiled.

"…" Katara stayed quiet, not once looking back…

The group had made it to the third water level changer (for about the forty-fifth time since starting the damn temple) and Link played Zelda's Lullaby… After that, the temple was a full water-level… After reapplying their Iron Boots, someone came to a revelation…

"We need to get below the floor in the room in the tower, correct?" Kurama inquired.

"Yeah…" Navi answered.

"I think we need to drain the water, and go back to the tower so we can put it at half level…" Kurama continued…

"Why?" the fairy had annoyance in her voice, though not at the redhead.

"Because, we can't get into the tower…Not with it all full…We kind of need to set the torch on the outside on fire..." Kurama said.

"…" Navi stayed silent.

"So…Unless we can defy the Laws of Physics…" Kurama trailed off, also mildly annoyed by it all.

"Dammit…" Navi sighed… The group hopped to the bottom level, and went back to the room where they first met Ruto (though no one dared actually call it that, since at the very mutter of the Zora Princess's name, Katara went crazy.) After draining the water, the group traversed back to the tower, and after opening it, they went in, repeated the whole lullaby-water level thing, and finally, the water was at half-level then…The heroes then hopped to the bottom, clad in their Iron Boots, and sunk into an opening in the tower floor… Once through, they were in a room with a switch… Curious, Link tripped it and from a trap door in the ceiling came several clam-like monsters and spiky-monsters… (A/n: I forgot their names!)

"Ah!" Link choked out. (He was still getting the hang of the whole underwater-talking deal. "Thingamajigs!"

"He has spoken…" Navi sighed… For the most part, Link and Katara were really the only two who could fight under water…

"Hey, nincompoop…" Navi flew over to Link. "Get out the Hookshot!"

"The launching boing-thing!!" Link cheered out enthusiastically… He quickly disposed of the monsters (since Katara apparently refused to do anything.) They went to another opening, and found a key (which Link so greatly named Patsy).

"I'm already sick of this temple…" Aya sighed as the group rested outside the tower door.

"They really didn't want anyone to get into this place, didn't they?" Navi mused. "The Zoras made this place almost impossible to navigate!"

"What?" Link turned.

"Does your brain just turn off when the conversation doesn't involve sparkly objects and explosions?" Navi inquired.

"Where?" Link turned about enthusiastically.

"Point proven…" Aya commented.

The heroes set off again, and after a few rooms, the group came to a large room with what looked like a humongous waterfall… The waterfall had little platforms moving up and down it, and each had little targets…

"So…How do we do this again?" Link looked.

"Grab the Hookshot…" Navi started… "Aim and shoot…In your case, anyway…"

"Oh…" Link stopped for a second, spacing out again… "Okay! Come on!!" Link grabbed Kaori by the waist and hopped off the ledge, shooting of the Hookshot from platform to platform until they had made it to the other side… Navi (with all her fairy strength) flew the Hookshot back over to Joey… There was silence…

"I am going to avoid any form of confrontation here, and just take Katara over, and Joey can take Aya over..." Kurama started before anyone could contradict. "Is that okay?" Kurama turned to Aya.

"Works for me…" Aya shrugged, agreeing with the redhead's plan for avoiding Katara-Joey conflict.

"Saves me trouble…" Katara said in an icy tone… Kurama grabbed her and hopped the moving platforms to the other side, while Joey and Aya got across… Once everyone was okay, they went to the next room…

"Huh?" Link looked… The room was a large pool of water, with several statues and a switch in the middle of the water… There was another exit door up to the very top of the room, virtually impossible to get too…

"Uh…" Link said again… Kurama, seeming to have figured the puzzle out, threw one of his roses at the switch, and the water level rose, and the statues sank…

"What is with this temple and water levels?" Navi asked, flashing in mild annoyance.

"I don't know…" Kurama sighed. "I'm just not asking anymore…"

"Don't question fish people…" Aya agreed. The group swam across, hit the switch (Kaori was the one hitting them with her arrows) and they used the risen statues to hookshot across, and repeated the process several times… They used the final statue to get to the top… After destroying a Like-Like, they came to another room… It was an extremely large room with an island of some form, and a thin, puddle-high layer of water on the ground… It was going to take a few to get across this very large room.

"This is pleasant…" Navi commented.

"Make us run the mile while they're at it…" Aya added.

_How could he do this? _Katara thought feverishly to herself as the heroes trailed across the room. _I mean, we never truly "hooked up" but how could he just stomp all over me like that? That…evil woman… I can't believe she would do that….Am I being irrational…No… _Katara's eyes, though unbeknownst to her comrades, held a mixture of pure anger and pure sadness… _He…he just stomped all over me… I feel numb inside… I can't believe this…_

"Well, what do we have here?" a cool, yet completely creepy voice hissed from behind them… They turned to see a strangely familiar looking man… Actually, he was creepy, demented, darker Link-look-alike…

"I am officially freaked out…" Kaori stepped behind Link.

"Hey!" Link cheered. "It's my evil twin brother Rupert!"

"And here he goes, breaking yet another moment…" Navi sighed.

"I'm supposed to be his darker half?" the man rolled his eyes… The man was as tall as Link, and just as muscular… He wore a black tunic, with dark brown belts and boots… He, too, wore a tight white suit underneath, and he had dark brown gauntlets and a black sock cap… He had silver-ish hair, and crimson-colored eyes (Not quite red.)

"Well… You fit the part…" Navi commented. "You kind of look gothic to me…"

"Emo…" Aya mused.

"Anyways…" the man started. "I've been called a few things in life… Dark Link, being the most common… Though, I prefer Yami…Just because I think it sounds cool…"

"Congratulations…" Navi said.

"I'll ignore you, fairy…" Yami snarled. "There are some very interesting people…You're supposed to be the Hero of Time and the Spirits?"

"Sounds like a rock band…" Navi commented.

"Very attractive women, I might point out…" Yami looked each of the girls up and down…His eyes stopped on Katara, whom he looked up and down quite a few times…

_This one isn't just very attractive, but she is weak of heart right now… This might come to my advantage…_

"I'm not quite in the mood to sit here and fight you all…" Yami sighed. "You see, I'm supposed to stop you, orders from the Evil King himself…"

"Woo-hoo…" Navi continued to make commentary.

"You will never succeed!" Link declared, his finger pointed out.

"You disgust me…" Yami stared at the "Hero of Time"

"…" Link stared.

"So, shall we begin?" Yami pulled out a long, black sword… The group got their weapons ready. The fight began…

"Quit mocking me!" Link whined, stopping as another attack of his was countered by Yami.

"…" Yami smirked, rushed towards the hero, slashing and knocking him to the ground unconscious… He had a cut on his head.

"Link!" Kaori exclaimed and ran towards the fallen hero.

_While they do that, I will have some fun… _Yami rushed at Katara from behind and grabbed her, dragging her to the other side of the room…

"What?" Katara glared at the dark being.

"So, beautiful…" Yami started. "What's on your mind?"

"What do you mean?" Katara hesitantly responded…

"You look troubled?" Yami smirked. "Boy troubles?"

"…" Katara stared. _What is with me…? I feel odd…_

"Though, why would someone like you have such troubles…" Yami mused. "Is it that pyro, I presume? He must be very idiotic to have dumped a beautiful girl such as you…"

"…" Katara stared again, taken aback.

"Silent?" Yami smirked.

"What do you want with me?" Katara asked.

"Oh, I just find a liking to you is all…" Yami shrugged.

"…Me?" Katara stared. "Why? Why not Kaori or Aya…? I'd imagine Kaori since she is your other half's girlfriend."

"Choosing my other half's girlfriend is so cliché…" Yami declared. "Besides I find something different in you…An icy temper, but a determination of steel…"

"Oh… What do you want then?" Katara stared.

"You…" Yami replied simply… "I can help you…Since your heart is broken, anyways… That pyro just chose the Zora Princess anyway…"

"T-t-true…" Katara choked out…

"Can I help you then?" Yami gently stroked the Spirit of Water's cheek…

_What am I doing? He's evil…He hurt Link and my friends…He…He works for Ganondorf… Why do I feel attracted to him…? I feel very, very strange…Drawn…But…what…Ow…_

"Don't be afraid…" Yami leaned close to Katara, so now he whispered in her ear. "I'm not lying…I can help you…Come with me…"

"…" Katara gasped at the tingling sensation of Yami's hot breath. "…" _I feel…_

"Is that a yes?" Yami whispered again.

"………" Katara suddenly felt distant… Almost immediately she replied. "Yes…"

"So you will?" Yami grabbed her hand almost tenderly. "Shall we go now?"

"Yes…" Katara had a gaze of ice right now, directed towards Joey, who finally caught onto the fact that Yami and her were having a conversation. "Yes!"

"Well…" Yami gently pulled her into an embrace. "I will help you…" Yami gently leaned in again, lightly kissing her temple. "Let us go then…There is no further need to be in this room…"

"Yes…" Katara nodded and the two disappeared in quick flash of darkness…

"Katara!" Joey called out (now the rest of group had watched all of this happen.)

"Something was off about him…" Kurama started. "I mean, he was Link's other half… But…"

"Why Katara?" Aya asked. "I mean… He obviously doesn't have any vendetta against Link or else he'd steal Kaori and try to take her away from Link."

"Who would want to be like Link?" Navi turned.

"Good point…" Aya shrugged.

"But Katara…" Joey looked almost heartbroken.

"Something tells me he preyed on Katara because she was, at the moment, weakest in heart." Kurama started, turning to Navi for conformation.

"Yes…" Navi nodded. "Dark beings like Yami, even though they're very rare, like to go for weak ones. He chose Katara because she was very, very weak at the moment."

"Why?" Joey looked, causing everyone to slap themselves…

"Now I'm going to call you an idiot!" Navi snapped. "Why do you think? Your little stunts with Ruto practically killed Katara!"

"…" Joey sighed. "I didn't want any of that to happen…"

"You let it happen though, and now you've killed her!" Aya added.

"Listen, dude…" Navi started, flying in front of Joey's face. "We've got to continue… The only way we can get to Katara is to continue going through the Water Temple… Maybe then we can find her!"

"I didn't…." Joey stopped… "I can't believe I let Yami kidnap her like that…"

"…" Kurama stared.

"You have something to say, Kurama?" Aya asked.

"I…" Kurama sighed. "I think she went of her own free will…"

"What do you mean?" Joey tone could kill.

"We all know Katara as one who doesn't go down without a fight, right?" Kurama stared, equally his tone (though Kurama's got scarier). "I highly doubt, whether she was heartbroken or not, she would have let him take her like that… She wouldn't just _let _the villain take her…"

"…" Joey just glared.

"Don't get angry on me, Joey." Kurama stated firmly. "I'm just pointing out that she most likely let Yami take her… Or, she just decided to go with him, I should say."

"…" Joey just turned to the door that was now open. "I don't believe you… I will only believe it if I she tells me herself!"

"You're short-sighted." Navi started. "You know he's right…"

"I don't care…" Joey charged ahead…

"Joey!" Link whined and followed after the Spirit of Fire…

"He's getting on my nerves, that short-sighted nincompoop!" Navi growled as the rest of the group followed…

_With Katara and Yami…._

"How are you going to help me?" Katara questioned the dark being…. He had taken her to what she presumed was the boss room, or close too anyway.

"I will, just don't worry, my dear…" Yami smirked a bit.

"Are you really going to help me?" Katara began to question her actions…

"Don't be hesitant…" Yami pinned her to the wall.

"What?" Katara stared. _Why am I being so weak…? But…he's so strong…and…_

"Don't worry, I'll help you…" Yami leaned in and kissed Katara… Katara particularly didn't want the kiss, but she surprised herself when she returned it.

_I can't believe I did that…._

**A/n: ** There you have it folks! There is yet a new chapter! Jeez… Joey is an idiot, isn't he? He doesn't entirely realize what he's done to Katara…Does he really care about Ruto at all? And what will happen with Yami and Katara?

Hm… Questions…

Until next time… Review!! (Readies Scotty).


	30. Medallion of Water Part 3

**A/n: **Hi everyone! Here I am with another chapter of my oh-so riveting tale… Any-hoo, sorry this update was delayed. Yesterday, I meant to write this chapter, but I got distracted and wrote another one-shot instead. It's called _My Snowy Valentine _and you can check it out if any of you wish to do so…

Oh, and I know the name "Yami" for Dark Link is not the best in the world (since you probably think of Yugioh when you say it) but it was the first thing that popped in my head…So deal with it…

Without any further rambling, let's move on!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Zelda, so take that!!

**Chapter 30: Medallion of Water Part 3**

_I feel…strange… I feel numb, and I can barely think? What's happening? _

Katara couldn't figure it out… One minute she's with the group, thoroughly angry with Joey and thinking of ways to dismember Ruto, and the next she's talking to Link's dark half, and agreeing to go with him to some unknown depth of the Water Temple…

How it all happened escaped Katara…

She didn't know actually…That moment was a blur… Had she really _agreed _to go with Yami? Was she really betraying them? Her mind was filled with nothing but the awful thought of betraying the friends whom she had traveled with and grown to appreciate more than anything else…

Now Katara was in what she assumed was a chamber close to the boss room… All she could hear were strange bubbling and screeching noises… Was that the boss? But where was she? Katara had absolutely no idea how she got there… She was slumped against the wall, still and not moving… She couldn't move… She could barely think…

"How are you, my dear?" Yami asked in a creepy tone to the girl.

"Dandy…" Katara said. "Did I really agree to this? I don't even remember that…"

She barely did… All she remembered was saying yes after Yami talked to her about how Joey had chosen Ruto over her… It was as if her whole body flared with dark anger!

"Of course you did…" Yami bent down, and took Katara's chin in his hand gently. "Or maybe, it was that anger talking for you…"

"I don't really understand." She stuttered.

"Of course you do!" Yami laughed. "You hate him, and therefore your friends who stayed with him… Do you understand? You're mine now… My puppet; my marionette!"

"…" Katara stared. "I don't get it still."

"What's there not to get?" Yami stared. "You're mine… You've betrayed them… Those pathetic fools…"

"…Have you manipulated me or something?" Katara glared.

"…" Yami started laughing. "Bingo! You see, you heart is filled with all that pleasant anger towards your 'boyfriend' that it was just too easy to manipulate! Besides, you're a very attractive woman, and I decided it benefited me… Manipulate her darkness and get a beautiful girl at the same time…"

"…" Katara glared. Was she that stupid?

"You see my stupid puppet…" Yami smirked. "You're under my bidding… What better way to rid the Hero of Time and the Spirits than to use one of their allies? The Spirit of Water, in fact! Water puts out fire, you know…"

"I won't do anything…I must be more stupid than I thought to fall for your tricks…" Katara turned.

"Don't get snappy with me, girl…" Yami jerked her chin so she'd face him again. "I said you're mine now! And I've got the perfect job for you." Katara suddenly felt a pain surge through her body, and she could officially not move anymore… Yami was whispering in ear. "This anger you have is so beautiful… You know, I think this tendency to hold a grudge is bad, Katara, dear… It's just too easy to manipulate…" He smiled.

"…" Katara just listened. Once again, she felt empty and entranced in what he was saying.

"Destroy them… I want you to work with Morpha…And kill those pathetic fools… I want you to start with that idiotic pyromaniac of yours…"

Katara's mind went numb…She grew a terrible pain in her head… She couldn't move to rub her head or anything…After her mind went black for a couple of seconds, Katara found herself with NO control of her body whatsoever…

But she stood up…And…She could see what was going on around her, and she was functional…But not in control of her body… She heard herself moan a bit…Did she speak? She didn't say anything…In fact…She didn't know anymore…

"Wow… You really grow to into a fiery vixen when I split your mind in two, don't you?" Yami smirked in pure amusement of the situation…

_Wait…What?!_

"I feel much better now…" 'Katara' said.

It was as if an entirely different entity was in control of her body… Did he say "split in two"? What did he mean by that? Was she really two people now?

_An alter ego…? _

"You know what to do, my dear…" Yami whispered in her ear. "Kill them… Destroy them…Maim them! I don't care how gory or 'tragic' it is…Just destroy them!"

"I'll get great joy in doing so…" Katara said, almost sadistically.

"Exactly what I wanted to hear…You learn well, my dear!" Yami laughed.

"…" Katara turned around to the exit.

_I can't kill them! Joey, Link, Kurama…Aya, Kaori, even Navi! I…can't…_

_**We will kill them… I will destroy that bastard…**_

_…_

**Let's see how the others are doing at this moment?**

"I think we might have actually completed this…" Kurama said… The group, minus the MIA Katara, had gone through the rest of the temple with some alacrity. They managed to get focused on collecting keys, and solving puzzles long enough to find the Boss Key… With Link's new Longshot, found after the room where Yami was, they had some more length, and were able to complete a puzzle on the second level… Now, they were headed out of the Boss Key room, and headed for the main room.

"Thank Din…" Joey said. (All of them had gotten acquainted with using the Goddesses names for things like that…Actually, they didn't think much of it anymore…)

"I felt like it would never end…" Aya commented as Kaori nodded her head vigorously.

"Damn…" Navi simply said, slumped over on Link's head.

"I feel like breaking out in a wild musical number…Is that normal?" Link looked to the group.

"With you, yes, it's normal…" Navi agreed.

"Yes!" Link jumped up, about to break into a Broadway song about his life, but Joey grabbed his arm to prevent him from doing so…

**Now, to the boss room, where Katara is!**

_WE can't kill anyone! I was pissed at Joey, I'll admit it, but I would never want to kill him, or any of my other friends!_

Katara was frantic, and practically pleading to her newfound alter ego. Katara felt like she was chained to the back of her mind; barricaded from actually taking any control…Her dark alter ego was now in control; a sadistic, future-murderer was in control of her body!

_Why did I even agree to go? Was the darkness that potent in me? Was I really that desperate to get back at Joey that I was willing to go with that guy! _

_**Shut it… There is nothing you can do…The gory deaths of all of your friends is inevitable…**_

_No!_

_**I'll make sure you are as in much emotional pain as they are physical pain…And I'll make sure that you're despairing about it as much as I am enjoying it…**_

_… _

The very thought of it made Katara's emotions go haywire…

"Who's there?" a familiar voice (To the mentally-confined Katara, that is).

"Hm…You shouldn't be in here…" Katara responded in a monotonous tone.

"…" Katara stepped out through the final entrance to the boss room, and the person in the room, Ruto, stood there… She whirled around, her metallic fins fluttering around her… Her aura of confidence seemed to weaken a bit at the familiar face in front of her… Even she recognized that Katara wasn't…well…Katara…

"Oh…It's you… What's wrong?" Ruto asked, seeming almost…worried and or frightened…

"…Hm…" Katara stared at the Zora Princess closely.

**_She is a threat to our plans… I can't let her stay here and screw anything up…_**

_Ruto can't screw anything up! What does she have to do with my friends?_

_**She is you're ally, right?**_

_In a sense…But there isn't any reason to…destroy her…_

_**Oh… I don't care…I will anyway because she is in the way…**_

****"I'm afraid I'll have to kill you…" Katara stared.

"What do you mean?" Ruto inquired. "You can't kill me! I'm royalty, and you promised to help me right? Besides, where are Joey and your other weirder friends?"

"Does that matter to you, because it doesn't to me…" Katara snapped. "I don't care where they are, because when they get here, they won't be around all that long anyways."

"…" Ruto seemed thoroughly shocked by that remark. "I knew you hated me, but you never seemed like the kind to turn on her friends so quickly… You can't let anger get the better of you…You seemed fiercely loyal to your friends, despite the fact that you were angry with Joey."

_I am loyal to them! I am!!_

"You're going to die now…" Katara warned ahead of time. She formed a water ball in her hand, and it changed to ice, shattering into many threateningly sharp and littler pieces.

"…" Ruto backed up slowly to the wall. "You wouldn't…"

"You may be a princess of the water, but I'm a Spirit of that same element…" Katara stepped forward, placing her hand in front of her. "I outrank you, princess…" The ice shards flew forward at the Zora Princess at an alarming rate… Ruto didn't even get a chance to react… Before she knew it, she was pinned to the wall by dozens of little, sharp ice shards. Her pink-colored eyes widened at this…

_I didn't like her, but not enough to kill her!_

_**Sure, that is why you were thinking of ways to dismember her…**_

_I was only frustrated. It was joking…I didn't want to kill her! No!_

_**She's not dead yet…**_

_Yet?_

_**Yes…Yet…She will be soon…**_

****The Zora Princess's blood dripped down the walls… The shards were in her arms, hands, legs, fins, stomach…Everywhere…She was bleeding profusely and her breathing became a bit more labored with each drop…

"I'll leave you there…" Katara turned and stared at the door, awaiting the others' arrival.

**How happy…Now lets see how the others are progressing…**

"How do we get past that?" Aya inquired. The group had made it past the main room, and came to a smaller room… It had steep, hill like path with spike-things flying back and forth across it. Beyond that little obstacle was the boss room.

"Well…Walk carefully up the hill and avoid spikes while doing so." Navi said.

"That helps…" Joey replied dryly.

"I vote Link goes up first…" Kaori piped.

"Yeah…Sacrifice the idiot first…" Navi agreed.

"Huh?" Link turned. "I heard my name."

"Go up the nifty hill thing…" Aya pointed.

"Sure!" Link cheered over-enthusiastically. He darted up the hill, and nearly made it to the top before tripping. Now he held on the edge for dear life, hoping to Din he wouldn't fall and or get spiked to death. Joey ran up after him, and managed to push himself and Link up the rest of the hill. Kurama, Aya, and Kaori followed after with Navi just flying up since she could do that.

"We made it alive…" Aya sighed.

"Well, I don't think it would be very good when the heroes died a death like that." Kurama smiled.

"Yeah, I don't want to have to explain to Sheik and Rauru that you fell on a hill and got impaled to death by darting spike-things…" Navi said sarcastically.

"That would suck…" Aya laughed. "Hyrule would be SOL…"

"Yeah…" Kaori nodded.

"So…Dude…Unlock the Boss Door already…" Navi sighed.  
"Oh yeah…" Link stared. He unlocked and opened the door. They walked in to the room, and the door slammed and locked shut behind them. Kurama and Navi were the first to catch the already surprising scene… Pinned against the wall, bleeding greatly, with ice shards was Ruto… And standing there with a sadistic smirk on her face was Katara.

"…" Joey then caught up with the rest. (Well, Kaori had to elbow Link, but….that wasn't a shock to anyone.) "Katara! What did you do?"

"She is nothing but a nuisance." Katara replied, already knowing he was referring to Ruto.

"Guys…We've got an issue…" Navi started. "Not only do we have Katara, the actual boss is still in here!"

"We have to deal with two?" Link turned to the fairy.

"Yes…" Navi nodded.

"What do you mean deal with?" Joey jumped in the conversation. "We aren't _dealing _with her…"

"She's become a threat…" Kurama added.

"So you've caught on?" Navi just turned to the redhead, leaving the rest of the group in the blank.

"Yes... But we'll explain that later." Kurama nodded.

"Good idea." Navi said.

"We don't even know if Katara did it!" Joey defended.

"Well…Judging by the fact that she's the only one I know with that attack and the fact that she looks like she wants to murder us, I'd say, yeah, she did that." Navi explained.

"Face it…" Kurama turned to the Spirit of Fire. "By the looks of it, Katara did it… There's no getting past that fact."

"Get me proof!" Joey didn't want to believe it.

"The look on her face is proof enough, Joey!" Kurama replied just as sharply.

"…You're wrong…You…just have to be wrong, Kurama." Joey glared.

"I'm not wrong… But let's quit arguing about it. Bickering gets us nowhere." Kurama explained. "Ruto is on the borderline of death, and we still have a boss to fight as well as Katara."

"Yeah…" Navi agreed.

"You deal with Katara, Joey." Kurama turned. "We have to deal with the boss."

"You all are boring me." Katara smirked.

"Listen, Kurama…Look out at Joey's fight." Navi whispered. "There's no way he can handle her alone…Not by the fact that his emotions are a cluster-fuck right now."

"Exactly…" Kurama nodded, and headed over to Ruto first. At this time, the boss, Morpha as Navi identified it, came to life. Link, Aya, and Kaori launched at the boss. Joey just stood there a few feet off from Katara, who smirked evilly at him, and Kurama hurried in getting the wounded princess off of the wall. He leaned her gently against the wall, and ran over to the boss with the others.

"Katara…" Joey stared.

_Joey, you flaming idiot! It's not me! _

"What's gotten into you?" Joey stared.

_An evil, demented alter-ego! That is what got into me!_

"You're whining amuses me." Katara started. "But I'm afraid I won't be amused for much longer…  
"Why?" Joey asked.

"Duh…I'm going to kill you!" Katara smiled a sweet smile. "And I'll enjoy it very much!"

_Stop!_

_**Shut it…**_

****"Die!" Katara ran forward at him, forming her ice shards at the same time. She thrust her hand forward, and stabbed Joey with the sharp ice pieces.

"Ah!" Joey was slammed back into the wall with several large shards of ice in his stomach and arm. He took his free arm (luckily the one he used to fight with) and ripped out the pieces of ice.

"You're going to be a tough one, aren't you?" Katara sighed, strumming a finger through her long hair.

"I don't die easily." Joey smirked. "You really do want to kill me?"

"It took that to make you realize that?" Katara rolled her eyes. "You finally saw realization after the fairy and the redhead tried to pound it into you brain? Jeez…"

"I don't know if you're possessed or what, Kat, but I'm going to get you back."

_Joey, you dumbass!!_

"Maybe I am Katara?" Katara questioned. "Maybe I'm just a…angrier Katara…One who is thoroughly angry with the bastard that broke her heart."

"Is that what all of this is about?" Joey practically yelled. "You nearly kill, probably did, kill Ruto, and you want to kill us, because of that?"

"Maybe I'm a spawn of anger…Who knows?" Katara laughed a bit.

"…" Joey just lifted an eyebrow before forming his fire sword.

"So you're finally going to give me a challenge?" Katara laughed again. "I guess it will be more fun to kill you when you're squirming around."

Meanwhile, Link, Kurama, Aya, Kaori, and Navi were busy trying to dispose of Morpha. Though, the boss proved himself much more than a waving tentacle of purple water.

"Hit it's nucleus with the Longshot." Navi instructed.

"The bouncy-chain thing?" Link stared quizzically at the fairy.

"Yes…Just get it out or I'll lodge it your head." Navi was frustrated.

"Okay…" Link just did as the angered fairy said, and took out the Longshot. Morpha took this time of pause on the group's part, and lashed out with several tentacles at the heroes. They were slammed into the wall, making a loud crash. Kurama got up first, along with Link, but saw that the two girls (being weaker than them) were out cold because of the impact.

"We have to continue this battle on our own, Link." Kurama stood up.

"We do?" Link questioned.

"Yes." Kurama sighed.

"Oh…Die evil being!!!" Link launched the Longshot without even aiming. Miraculously enough, the Hero of Time pulled out the nucleus easily. Kurama just reformed his whip and slashed the nucleus a few times before it retreated back to the water.

"You have the luck of the Goddesses…" Navi just stared. "How did you get it?"

"Dunno…" Link shrugged. "Greg, Lord of All Things Bouncy, helped."

"That sounds kind of perverted…" Navi said wryly.

"…" Kurama just rolled his eyes.

"Oh…I didn't think of that…" Link just shrugged again. "Well, Greg is very perverted though…"

"I wonder who Greg's a manifestation of?" Kurama just smiled a bit.

"What does manifestation mean?" Link asked.

"Don't worry about it." Kurama just smiled. "Just focus on the opponent."

"What does opponent mean?" Link asked again.

"Focus on the enemy…" Kurama sighed.

"Oh…" there was a silence. Kurama actually noticed the incoming attack of Morpha, and blocked by turning his whip into his vine sword and jumping in front of Link.

"Ah!" Link jumped, and readied the Master Sword. He then took the Longshot in the other hand and shot at the monster. Kurama hopped behind the Hero of Time and watched as he repeatedly tried to pull the nucleus from Morpha…After the fiftieth try, they finally managed to get the nucleus, in which Kurama and Link doubled teamed it and slashed it at the same time.

With the Joey-Katara battle, it was never ending. They couldn't use there magic attacks against each other, since fire and water canceled each other out, and so it was brought down to a physical battle (with Katara reduced to using her own sword made of ice, and some of her ice shard attacks.) Joey was the lead as far as brute strength, so he was easily able to fling Katara away from him with a single slash of his sword. Though, Katara was faster, so she usually got several quick stabs of the sword at Joey before he did that.

"This is getting nowhere…" Joey mumbled to himself.

**_I think I'll have to use my big attack soon…_**

_I only have a few very powerful attacks…I don't even know how to use them…_

_**But I do…**_

_You can't…_

_**Right now, we're at the same level…Before too long, I'll just put out the fire.**_

_…_

_**You're silence is humorous….**_

****"You know…" Katara started. "I'm quite sick of you already."

"Good…Get used to it." Joey wiped some blood off of his face.

**_Now…_**

_No…_

"Get ready…I'm ready to destroy you…" Katara closed her eyes, and started concentrating. Her hands and the pendent were glowing, so Joey clued into the fact that whatever she was going to do, it would really, really suck on his part.

Meanwhile, with the Morpha-battle, Aya and Kaori had FINALLY woken up. When the two girls did awake, Link and Kurama had taken their fair share of wounds. Link now had several cuts on his face and arms, and Kurama had a huge gash on his forehead, as well as a big wound on his side. Both looked awful and seemed like they were thrown around a few times.

"You two look awful!" Kaori called while forming her bow and arrows again.

"Well…" Kurama started. "We were thrown around by Morpha a couple of times…In short, we were fighting and making sure you two didn't die at the same time…"

"Yeah..." Navi nodded.

"Thanks!" Aya smiled, along with Kaori, and formed her long sword.  
"No problem…" Link lifted a hand, seeming a bit dazed himself.

"…" Kurama turned his head to the battle between Katara and Joey. "Navi, Katara's getting ready to do something…By the looks of it, I'm guessing it's big…"

"Shit…" Navi sighed. "Well, from what harp-boy tells me, since I asked him about this one time…When, don't ask, I just did… Each of the Spirits has a couple of special attacks, along with a special ability that is just theirs…"

"And Katara is going to use one?" Kurama lifted an eyebrow.

"Yes…Well…" Navi said. "Katara's other half, as I'll call her. You all haven't actually unlocked theses attacks and abilities…You only know the basics… So…Whatever it is, Joey's going to get the shit knocked out of him…"

"Let's hurry and defeat this monster then…" Kurama quickly ran back over to the battle with Morpha. Kaori was the only one who could shoot the nucleus at the same time as it was in the water, since she had special archery skills. She shot the arrow at the nucleus and the tentacle fell back into the water just before it was about to grab Link.

"Get the nucleus!" Kurama instructed. Link just did as he was told and shot the Longshot again, and got the nucleus out using a great amount of force. He fell back on his back and Kurama and Aya launched at the nucleus, quickly slashing it several times. It hopped back in the water again, forming several tentacles…

"Avoid the tentacles…" Navi said dryly.

"Thanks…" Aya replied in the same tone. She used her long sword to deflect the tentacle. The group looked around for the nucleus. Aya spotted it. "It's right there!"

"Ok!" Link cheered. Kaori shot an arrow at it, managing to shock it, while Link shot the Longshot and dragged it out. They all attacked this time (since they were hoping they'd FINALLY kill it). Link, Kurama, and Aya all slashed the monster while Kaori shot arrows at it. Finally it screeched loudly and hopped crazily back into the water…

(**A/n: **To fit what is going to happen, I'm not having the purple water disappear…Instead, Morpha is going to die, and it's going to change back into regular water…)

There was incessant splashing and loud, blood-curdling screams coming from Morpha as it died…Finally, there was a slight explosion of water, and Morpha hopped onto ground. It quickly dissipated, and the purple-creepy water changed back to regular water.

"Whew…" Link wiped some blood off of his cheek. "I thought that was going to last forever…"

"It seemed like that…" Kurama agreed.

"It wasn't like that for me…" Aya shrugged.

"Or me…" Kaori chimed.

"But maybe t that's because we were knocked out for the majority of it…" Aya shrugged.

Meanwhile, Katara had finished her concentrating, and lifted her hand above her… The blue glowing exploded and something rose above her. It was a strange creature of some form.

The entity above her resembled a mermaid. It had pointy ears and blue-tinted skin. Her eyes were a creepy-ice blue and she had long, long, long deep blue hair. What was different is that she had long, sharp claws forming from her hands. The mermaid had a silver choker and several bands on her arms. A simple white-top covered by silver, thin armor of some sort covered her chest regions, with ribbons tying around her lower half. While there was a long piece of white cloth clamped to her waist by a silver belt, the lower half formed into a long, sharp fin.

"Ow…" Ruto finally woke up at this point. Her eyes widened for two reasons: A.) She was somehow alive and B.) There was a strange entity-mermaid thing above Katara. "It's beautiful…Scary…but pretty…"

"Go…" Katara thrust her hands forward, and the mermaid-thing launched forward at the entranced Spirit of Fire…Before he had a chance to react, the being had pinned him to the wall and stabbed him with her claws.

"…" Joey gasped and coughed up a pretty sizeable amount of blood. (Which, obviously, was not good…) The mermaid ripped its claws out, and the boy fell to the ground, limp.

_NO!! No…no…no…no…no…_

_**Ha…I think it worked…Who's next… **_

****"…" Katara turned to the rest. She ran forward, so she was next to the pool. "Who shall I kill next?"

_… _

The inner Katara (the real one, who was in a great state of perturbation) focused her hardest. She just had to overcome this alter ego… She figured out that Kurama and Navi had figured out this wasn't her… But that wasn't enough…She had to get control back… So she focused extremely hard.

_Go away…or something….Just don't do anything…_

"…" Katara had her hand raised, summoning the mermaid back to her side. She looked ready to launch it again.

_No… _

She could feel control slowly coming back to her…But was she powerful enough to deal with this being? Call off the attack?

"Go…Go for the redhead first…" The being sped forward at the same rate…

_Don't! NO!_

It was at this time that Katara FINALLY got control back…

"No!" Katara put both hands in front of her… Everyone took note (even Ruto, who was awake still, though everyone knew that now) to the fact that Katara's voice was no longer deep and evil, but as it was before… The pendent began to glow and Katara seemed like she was using every ounce of her energy. The mermaid had frozen, but Katara was doing her best to keep it there… Finally, after a burst of glowing, the being disappeared.

"So…rry…" Katara's eyes closed and she fell backwards into the pool…

**A/n**: Damn! That was a long-ass chapter to write…But there was now way that I could have split that up… It made more sense to me to put it as one chapter…

**Okay!!!!!!!!! **The mermaid thing that Katara (both) had control of? Take that is part of my new idea for the Spirits…I figured I didn't do enough with them, and I could do so much… Let's just say that the will all have their own special attacks, a unique ability or mastery, and part of there special attacks will individual entity things… I'll figure it out, but go with me… I figured it was cool, and a creepy mermaid monster thing fit Katara…

**OH! **And, yes…. The evil Katara was an entirely different personality! It was, in deed, and alter ego and not just Katara possessed.

Review please!!!!


	31. Medallion of Water Part 4

**A/n: **Well, I'm back! I'm proud of last chapter! Things just got a little interesting… Wow… Any-hoo, thanks to who gave some form of a suggestion for my ideas with the Spirits… Helps me a lot!!

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own Zelda…whatever…

**Chapter 31: Medallion of Water Part 4**

The minute that Katara fell into the pool of water was the same minute that Joey decided to regain consciousness… Granted, he didn't quite notice anything at first, since he took a few seconds to regain his vision…But once he could see clearly, he didn't like what he saw…

He really, really didn't like what he saw…

So, despite the fact that the rest of he was bleed profusely and that he could barely move, Joey stood. The seriousness of the situation suddenly impacted his mind full-force and he sprung forward. Shedding his bloody, black jacket in the process, he dive-bombed into the pool after the Spirit of Water, leaving the rest of the group to stare at him…

"Man overboard!!!" Link cheered, lifting an arm up despite his injuries.

"Can Katara breathe under water?" Aya inquired, turning to the blue fairy, who was flashing in mild annoyance.

"She is the Spirit of Water…" Navi responded.

"So, like Joey is immune to burns and stuff, she's immune to drowning?" Aya confirmed.

"Yep…" Navi still flashed.

"So, he just risked himself to get her? Even when she can't drown?" Aya lifted an eyebrow.

"Bingo…" Navi said.

"Just to add to the logic of this moment, I'd like to point out that Joey is very weak, and could easily lose consciousness in the water himself…" Kurama pointed out.

"How intelligent…" Aya sighed.

Meanwhile, fatigue had quickly swept over Joey. It hadn't hit until now that he was, indeed, very weak himself. Despite the more logical part of his mind, the one that rarely came out, yelling at him to get his wounded ass out of the water, Joey pushed forward anyway. He shook his head, ignoring the fact that the water was ice-cold and that he was also lightheaded from lack of air, and dove further with a great amount of gusto.

_There she is! _Joey exclaimed to himself in his mind. He dove further once more and reached out for her. Pulling Katara close to him, Joey began his traverse back to the top. He was now very dizzy for lack of oxygen, thereof, and was more worried that Katara was probably in dire need of it too.

_Only a little further!_

_Wait…how close am I? Yeah! Hot damn! I'm almost there…Hold on, Kat, I gotcha…_

"I think I see something coming to the surface." Kurama pointed nonchalantly to the pool of water.

"It's either Captain Moron himself or the Locness Monster…One of the two." Navi responded in a similar tone, now slumped over on Link's head. The fairy, too, was also worn out from all the flying around and helping she had to do in this double battle.

"Or it's Dingo, Ruler of the Polka-Dotted Fish…" Link added.

"There that moment goes." Navi sighed.

Joey punctured the surface, and sucked in air greedily when he did so. Looking around the pool, he then swam to the ledge and lifted the unconscious Spirit of Water on to the ledge before climbing out himself.

"Woo-hoo…You're a winner…" Navi clapped in the most unenthusiastic manner.

"What?" Joey glared. "She would have drowned had I not jumped in there!"

"Dude… I'm surprised that you didn't pass out yourself…You're a mess." Aya pointed out.

"…" Kurama just rubbed his head.

"No I would not have!" Joey defended. "I saved her! She owes me her life…"

"More like you owe her your life…" Navi sighed.

"Huh?" Joey lifted an eyebrow.

"What she means is that you're lucky normal Katara got control, or else the demented Katara would have had that summon-thingy kick your ass from here to Hyrule Castle Town." Aya explained.

"Oh…" Joey rubbed his head.

"Jeez… I thought Link was stupid…" Navi sighed.

"Row, row, row your boat; gently down the stream!!!" Link was, at the current moment, dancing in a circle singing random tunes related to water…

"I take that back…You both are equally moronic." Navi slapped herself, now resting on Kurama's head…

"I'll stop us there." Kurama lifted a hand. "Navi?"

"Yes?" the pixie looked down.

"Are there any fairies at all around here?" the redhead inquired.

"Yeah…There are several all over the temple." Navi nodded.

"Can you gather however many you can?" Kurama asked, still keeping his gentlemanly tone, despite the fact that he was worn out. "We need them…"

"Sure…I'll go start a pilgrimage of fairies." Navi flew out of the room.

Joey was now slumped against the wall with Katara lying next to him. He looked around the room, now taking full notice the extent of his friends' conditions.

Link, despite the fact that he was cheerily dancing in a circle, was in pretty bad shape. He had a slight gash on his cheek, as well as a huge cut in his shoulder that was soaking the right part of his tunic in blood. He had a small cut in his side.

Kurama was doing no better than Link. He had a pretty deep gash on his forehead. The sleeve of his left arm was ripped to shreds, and Joey could see remnants of it lying around in a corner. That arm was dripping in blood, and slightly bruising. His stomach had a slight cut in it, and several other little gashes were around his body.

The other two girls, Aya and Kaori, were doing a little better than the rest. Kaori had a deep gash on her cheek, and her temple, behind her bangs, was slightly bruised. Her jacket was ripped to no end, and he could see a couple of gashed on her back. Aya was similar, except a deep gash donned her leg, where her dress was ripped. She also had a cut closer to her ear that dripped down her neck.

Joey then remembered Ruto, and turned to that corner. The Zora Princess was in still in the corner. He could tell she was weak from blood loss, and was in dire need of a fairy. Ice pieces were still lodged in her body all over and she was slumped in a large pool of blood.

"We all took a serious beating, didn't we?" Joey tried to make conversation.

"I believe that that is an understatement, Joey." Kurama sighed.

An awkward silence followed….

"I come bearing healing fairies." Navi flew into the room with a six little fairies following behind her. Navi slumped back on Kurama's head (since Link was still dancing) and watched as the fairies hovered around her for direction. After a second, Navi pointed them out to everyone. A fairy flew over to Joey and Katara, and quickly flew around him; healing him and her and making them look as good as new. The same happened to Link, Kurama, and Ruto, and then to Aya and Kaori. After that, the fairies disappeared.

"I feel so much better." Kaori stretched her arms.

"Woo-hoo…" Navi said nonchalantly. "Link! Quit dancing…"

"Why?" Link twirled around.

"Because I said so and I don't have the energy to waste on getting you to stop." Navi responded.

"Okay…" Link sighed sadly. The fairy retreated back to Link's head.

"Are we going to tell him?" Aya whispered.

"Oh, about the Katara thing?" Navi said.

"Yeah…" Aya added.

"Of course." Navi smiled.

"Why?" Kaori inquired.

"Because for two reasons. One: He should know that he shouldn't have done it, and two: its fun." Navi explained.

"Whatever…" Aya shrugged.

"Ow…" Katara's voice finally called out.

"Kat!" Joey exclaimed, running back over to her.

"Joey?" Katara smiled.

"You're awake!" Joey smiled back.

"…" Katara's smile went sour, and she stared between the Spirit of Fire and the group with a sad gaze.

"Don't be sad…" Joey stared.

"Get Glad…" Aya added. Katara giggled a bit, but still look depressed.

"I'm sorry…" Katara finally said.

"Oh, it was Yami's fault!" Kaori huffed.

"Not yours…" Navi added.

"I let him do that to me!" Katara was practically in tears. "And because he did that, I practically killed Joey, and Ruto…and all of you alike!"

"…" the group just sighed.

"I don't know where she went…" Katara stared off into space. "The evil me…She's gone…I don't know if she's still there or if she's gone for good…But…she's not there anymore…"

"Don't worry about it, Kat…" Joey placed a hand on her slender shoulders.

"I feel so…empty…" Katara stared up at Joey, her blue eyes meeting his amber eyes.

"Hey…Better empty than dead I guess…" Navi said.

"How sympathetic…" Aya looked up at the pixie.

"Yeah… Sympathy is not my thing…" Navi said in an unfazed tone.

"I'm sorry…" Katara said again. "I don't know how you can forgive me…I nearly murdered you all!"

"Ah…Murdered is such a strong word." Joey shrugged.

"…" Katara's eyes were downcast.

"Nearly is a key word in that statement." Aya lifted a hand. "You didn't kill anyone… So, nearly… Just don't worry about it."

"Besides, if you killed Link, he would have brought it upon himself." Navi added.

"…" Katara laughed a bit.

There was a silence that followed.

"Oh…" Navi perked up. "One thing…"

"What?" Joey turned.

"You didn't have to save Katara, you know." Navi said.

"He did what?" Katara turned to Aya and Kaori.

"You fell in the pool after you passed out and Joey jumped into save you." Aya explained.

"He didn't _have _to do that, did he?" Katara lifted an eyebrow.

"Nope…" Kaori smiled.

"What do you mean?" Joey looked utterly lost.

"Huh?" Link turned around with the same lost expression.

"Joey, what is Katara?" Navi began to explain.

"A girl?" Joey questioned, which caused even the depressed Katara to slap herself.

"She's the Spirit of Water…" Navi answered for him bluntly.

"And?" Link stared.

"You know how you're immune to burns?" Navi stared.

"Yes…wait…" Joey stopped.

"I'm immune to drowning…" Katara turned.

"Damn…" Joey slapped himself.

"I appreciate that you're so desperate to save me…but…you put yourself at risk…" Katara stared at him sympathetically.

"..." Kurama just shook his head.

"I'm an idiot…" Joey rolled his eyes.

"I still don't get it." Link said innocently.

"Don't worry about it, Link…" Kaori patted him on the back.

"Alright!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Link jumped in the air.

"I would like to take this moment to point out that Ruto is gone and that she has been since the fairies healed her." Kurama explained.

"…" that took a minute to sink in.

"Wait…what?" Aya turned.

"Yes." Kurama nodded.

"And why didn't you tell us this?" Joey twitched an eyebrow slightly, already on edge.

"Because, after we all were healed, we got into that long discussion…" Kurama said in his usual calm tone.

"But…" Joey twitched again.

"Don't blame me…" Kurama smiled.

"Where do you think she went?" Kaori sighed.

"I'm assuming by the look Kurama just gave me that she probably disappeared to the Chamber of Sages." Navi shrugged.

"I'm going on the wild assumption that she's the Sage of Water." Kurama explained.

"Are you sure?" Kaori questioned.

"Yes…That is unless you think that King Zora is the Sage…" Kurama responded.

"Um…no… I don't think he'd even _fit _in the Chamber of Sages…" Aya added.

"Precisely…" Kurama nodded.

"Where is that again?" Link turned.

"Just go that portal…" Kurama pointed to a blue portal on one of the pool platforms. The group hopped over there, pushing their current issues aside, and went through the portal.

"Hello!" Ruto smiled at the heroes once they arrived. Standing on their platforms, now facing the blue platform, they stared at the new Sage of Water. "Can you believe it? I'm a Sage! How's that for awesome?"

"Pretty damned nifty…" Aya added.

"Hot shit…" Navi said unenthusiastically.

"Hi!" Link cheered, twirling and nearly falling off of his Triforce platform. Joey reached over and pulled him back to a steady position.

"Joey…" Ruto turned. "………… I would like to, right now, declare my utmost love for you."

"…" Joey just listened.

"But I can't…I…" Ruto stopped.

"What is it?" Joey lifted an eyebrow at the Zora Princess.

"First, I'd like to officially call off the engagement, or lack thereof." Ruto declared. "My father can live without a new son-in-law!"

"Okay…" Joey just nodded.

"And secondly, I want to apologize…" Ruto's magenta eyes fell downcast.

"…." The group wasn't quite sure how to take that one. Ruto, the uptight, spoiled fish princess had just apologized.

"I brought a lot of this on…" Ruto didn't make eye contact with anyone. "It was because I kissed Joey that Katara got angry. In root, all of this is my fault… I didn't mean for anyone to get injured, but I was only thinking of my own interests… I didn't mean to cause anything…"

"…" the group was still quiet.

"And… If I hadn't done that, then maybe Katara would only have been a little frustrated and not downright angry… I didn't want anybody to turn on anyone. I almost ruined the heroes…the very ones who were going to help save us…And…"

"It….is…okay?" Joey searched for words to say.

"I didn't mean to cause so much drama…" Ruto ended her apology.

"It's fine, really…" Link spoke up. "You're still our friend!"

"…" Ruto looked taken aback by that one. "…Well…um…anyway… Thank you…."

"No problem!" Link cheered again, but Joey grabbed his arm to stop him from dancing.

"I am filled with tons of guilt…Not just because of what I feel I did to you, but also because I couldn't save my people!" tears welled up in the new Sage's eyes. "But, I feel a little better knowing this… Because of you all defeating the curse of the Water Temple, my people will eventually thaw out. And then, maybe they can come to forgiveness towards their princess, who couldn't save them…"

"It's not your fault." Joey said again.

"Yes!" Ruto snapped. "I'm their princess! I'm their future leader! I let them get locked away beneath ice, all of them! Even my own father! And almost myself, had it not been for Sheik! And then I went and screwed you all over too…" She turned to Katara. "I have a specific apology for you. I might have, in root, caused you to gain that alter ego of yours. I apologize…"

"…No…problem…" Katara smiled.

"Anyways…" Ruto brushed away a couple of tears. "I thank you again. And I do call off the wedding, if there ever was going to be one… I'm coming to realize that maybe Joey was already taken by the time I got to him anyways…"

Joey and Katara blushed furiously at that one.

"I hope you all work out these little kinks…" Ruto smirked. "Once again, anyways… Now that I've been awakened as a Sage, the time has come for me to add my powers to you all…." Ruto held out her hand and summoned a blue orb…Then; it flew to Link's hand, and formed a medallion. Link stared at it's glowing for a second before pocketing the trinket.

"Keep that!" Ruto smiled as the group began to fade. "I'll be helping from her from now on!"

"Alright!" they called back.

"And don't worry!" Link cheered. "You're not in need of any apology or whatever it's called!!!" The group finally faded.

"Wait! Tell Sheik thank you for me!"

The group landed in head on the island, the one that was technically the roof of the Water Temple. They were in a daze for a second… Then all of them realized that they were in a tangled pile...and it was very uncomfortable.

"Who's on the bottom?" Link asked.

"I am…" Kurama answered.

"Ouch…" Navi said as she inspected the pile… And then she laughed at their situation.

"Who's on top?" Katara asked.

"…" there was a silence.

"Wait…" Link was silent. "I am!"

"Then get your ass up! This is painful…and slightly uncomfortable…" Joey yelled. Joey, who was under him, kicked him, causing the Hero of Time to squeal and fall off…From there, each hero slowly got up before they squished and/or suffocated Kurama. Once everyone was standing again, they stared around….

Then they noticed the lake was normal again…

It was certainly a radiant sight… Crystal clear waters filled the once empty reservoir, and there wasn't a single monster or grey cloud anywhere… The waters splashed to shore, but weren't wild… There was a gentle breeze, and everything was calm and serene.

"It seems as if you fixed everything…" a familiar voice said. The group turned and saw their favorite Sheikah standing, staring at the lake. "Because you worked with the Zora Princess, you overcame it and managed to restore Lake Hylia to the beauty it once was."

"Cool…" Navi plopped down on Link's head as they joined the Sheikah in staring.

"I understand that you overcame several trials…" Sheik said cryptically. "You overcame several obstacles, many of which include betrayal and darkness, correct?"

"Yeah, if you want to be blunt." Aya nodded.

"Good…" Sheik seemed satisfied for some reason. "With each trial you face, your spirit grows stronger…And the stronger your spirit, the stronger your will to go on… You all surely have the hearts strong enough to save this dying land."

"Thanks?" Joey shrugged.

"Remember, this isn't the end…I can see that much more awaits you…"

"We know." Joey shrugged again.

"Don't take it too lightly…" Sheik was blunt.

"We can handle it!" Joey lifted his hands in defense. "We survived this one, didn't we?"

"Yes, but you may not the next." Sheik sighed. "Anyways, I also understand that you, the Spirits, are slowly beginning to fully develop your powers."

"Huh?" Joey lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes…" Sheik stared. "I know that Katara used her summon."

"And?" Joey inquired.

"You have one too…Actually, all of you Spirits have a summon…As well, you have special ability that only you have…"

"Oh, like what?" Kaori piped.

"You will come to understand it as you journey further…" Sheik took a step back.

"But…" Kaori lifted her finger.

"You will find out soon enough…" Sheik reassured.

"Wait!" Navi called.

"We have something to tell you!" Link stared.

"What?" Sheik stared.

"Ruto says thank you." Navi explained. Sheik merely nodded his head, and threw down a Deku Nut. After the flash, the Sheikah was gone.

"I hate it when he does that…" Kaori huffed.

"Well…" Aya stared. "What I want to know is how he knows what we do…"

"He's a stalker…" Navi stared.

"That makes me fell kind of uncomfortable." Aya shivered a bit.

"Now that I think of it, yeah, it is uncomfortable. Let's end it there…" Navi declared.

The group then was silent, again, and continued to stare at out at the lake, all in their own world…

**A/n: **A little rushed in my opinion, but it works for now… First, I do have some explanations to make:

My main one is Ruto…Dudes, it's called character development… She was a bit of a snob at first, but by the end of her escapade, I managed to work in sympathy to her mix. And guilt… I thought that if Ruto was serious about being a princess, then she would blame what happened to the Zoras on herself…And I figured that she might as well feel guilty for the Katara-thing too…It works…

And the Spirit thing… I thought this out by a couple of reviewers suggestions… And I figured that I'll give each Spirit a specific ability that only they have, and each will have their own summon…

So there…All will be explained one day… But if I explained everything here right now, then that spoils the plot twists for the future, correct?

REVIEW!!!!!!!


	32. Let the Fires Rage On

**A/n: **Dudes! Where in the heck are you all? I only got, like one review last chapter! Oh well…Here I am again; hopefully I'll get more reviews! Moving on!

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Zelda, so get over it…

**Chapter 32: Let the Fires Rage On**

"I know we just got that temple done, but shouldn't we head out now?" Navi inquired. It had been about an hour since Sheik had left, and the group just stood on the island-thing and waited for the motivation to move to come to them.

"It'd be wise, but where would we go?" Kurama agreed. "What was the next clue?  
"What clue?" Joey shifted his amber eyes towards the redhead.

"…" Kurama sighed. "Remember when we first met Sheik and he told us about the legend passed down among his people?"

"I don't remember." Joey shrugged, though he was whacked on the head by Katara, who seemed to be regaining her old composure, somewhat.

"I'm hungry." Link broke the moment.

"You might as well give it up, Kurama." Aya turned. "You seem to be the only guy who remembered the legend-thing."

"It appears so." Kurama sighed again.

"Shut it, hat boy!" Navi whacked Link on the head before sitting on it. "To answer the question originally asked, the next one was 'In the House of the Dead.'"

"That sounds pleasant." Aya said wryly.

"Great…" Kaori sighed.

"Where would we find a dead house?" Joey asked, sitting up, only to get whacked on the head again by Katara. "What'd I do?"

"We're not looking for a dead house, if there is such a thing." Katara rolled her eyes.

"Whatever…" Joey trailed off, rubbing his head.

"I'm voting that whatever we're looking for is in the Kakariko Graveyard." Kurama declared. "It seems to have the strongest connection to the clue."

"We'll go along with that." Navi nodded. "Well, everyone, it's time to move on."

"What's this?" Link pointed to a plaque on the ground next to the tree.

"It says something along the lines of shooting the sun when it rises." Navi turned.

"With what?" Link lifted an eyebrow.

"With the boomerang, you flaming idiot." Navi responded sarcastically. "What else? With the bow!"

"Oh…Okay." Link nodded. "But we would have to wait for the sun to raise…Curse you evil plaque for making me wait in utter anticipation!!"

"You could always use the Sun's Song." Kurama pointed out in his usual manner. "Then, when the sun is rising, shoot it with an arrow."

"I knew that." Link pulled out the ocarina. "How'd that go again?"

"Kurama wrote it down." Navi said, still sitting on Link's head. Kurama pulled out a piece of paper. Despite the fact that he was an idiot, it took Link only one glance at the paper to re-perfect the song and play it. The lively tune sounded throughout the area, and suddenly it was nighttime. Playing it again, the sunrise began.

"Hurry it up, Link!" Kaori urged. Link pulled out his bow and shot the sun. There was a burst of light and after it cleared, the group turned to another small island to see something glowing sinking lightly to the ground.  
"What is that?" Link hopped into the lake and swam to the island, and came back with an arrow glowing red. The magic seemed to sink into Link's body, and the arrow returned to looking like a regular arrow.

"What was that?" Joey gave a quizzical look.

"It appears Link has gained a new magic of sorts." Kurama shrugged.

"You've gained the ability of fire arrows." Navi explained. "Using your magic, you can shoot of flaming arrows whenever you want."

"Yay!!!" Link jumped up and cheered, after Katara dried him off.

"Are you sure that's safe in his hands?" Aya looked up at the fairy.

"I've been saying that even more now that he can use a giant hammer…and a sword…and a hookshot…" Navi listed off all of Link's weaponry.

"In general, anything is dangerous in Link's hands?" Aya smiled.

"Yep…Anything." Navi nodded and flew over to Link and whacked him on the head. "We're moving on now!" The group traveled to mainland via the bridges and stood there.

"Why are we standing here?" Link looked up at the pixie.

"Call the horses, dude." Navi said nonchalantly.

"Oh yeah…" Link rubbed his head thinking for a minute, before Link played "Epona's Song" on the ocarina. The group's horses ran up them, ready for travel.

"To that one place!" Link pointed and the group ran off.

By mid-day the group arrived to the entrance of Kakariko Village, making good time, in Navi's opinion. Though Link and Joey remained oblivious, but even outside the village's walls, Kurama and the girls sensed something off about the eerily peaceful atmosphere.

"Does anyone sense something off, or is it just me again?" Kaori lifted an eyebrow.

"Nope." Joey was blunt.

"There is something not right." Kurama added.

"You all are just a little weird-ed out is all." Joey reassured.

"Whatever!!" Link did a funky twirl.

"I'll whack you on the head if you're wrong, Joey." Katara threatened. The group climbed the steps and came outside of the village, only to stop dead in their tracks.

Kakariko Village was in flames. Not one inch of the village was not up in fire. The Wind Mill looked like it would cave in, and even the Cucco Lady's house wasn't spared by the ravaging flames. The trees, bushes, even the gates were crumbling. A huge cloud of horrid black smoke had curtained the village.

"So I was wrong…" Joey trailed off and was whacked on the head by Katara…again…

"Duh." Navi responded.

"What the hell happened here?" Aya cursed, staring around.

"I have no idea." Navi answered.

"Oh no…" Link seemed genuinely upset. The group inched farther into the burning village.

"There's Sheik!" Kurama pointed in front of the Well. The shocked travelers ran up to the Sheikah's side.

"Get back, everyone." Sheik said seriously. The group took one step back. "It's coming…"

"Dude, what's coming?" Joey asked.

"You'll see, Joey." Sheik commanded.

"I sense something very strange…and powerful." Kurama mumbled to himself so only Navi could hear.

"Very, very strange." Navi agreed. The group's curiosity was fulfilled when there was a loud crash, followed by an earsplitting moan. The moan grew into a loud, sickening shriek. Something blew out of the well; a purple and black entity of some form began to wildly fly around the village. The entities screamed and shrieked and seem to shroud darkness around the already oppressed village. As it flew around, it began to rain, and the rain was icy cold and tasted bitter and metallic, almost like blood. Then, the shadow shot towards Sheik.

"Sheik!" Link, always without thinking, jumped in front of the Sheikah, ready to shield him. Sheik's one visible eye was wide in disbelief.

"Are you really that stupid?" Sheik spat out. "It's going to kill you!"

"I don't want to lose my friends!" Link seemed determined. The rest of the group stepped back a few more steps. The shadowy spirit rushed towards Link and Sheik and barreled over them, knocking both unconscious. It rushed towards the remainder of the group, knocking all of them unconscious as well.

_**A little while later…**_

****"Dude…" Link's eyes fluttered open.

"Wake up!" Kaori's worried tone seemed to startle the hero into consciousness.

"Oh my Din!" Link sprung up into a standing position. "Quick! I need a pencil, 2 pints of blood, and a tub of butter!"

"…" the group stared at the startled Hero of Time like they always did in these situations: like a moron.

"Okay…" Joey started. "What's the connection between a pencil, blood, and butter?"

"This is Link we're talking about." Navi responded. "He needs no reason to be a moron."

"Heh." Sheik laughed to himself. "I should've figured this. Despite his…lack of common sense, if you will, I should've known that that wouldn't have killed you all so suddenly."

"What's going on again?" Link stopped his rant and turned to the group.

"Sheik, what was that?" Kurama jumpstarted the discussion.

"That was the evil spirit that was sealed beneath the well long ago." Sheik began. "Long ago, Impa, whom I'm sure you remember, sealed it in the well as a means of freeing the Shadow Temple."

"Freeing the Shadow Temple?" Joey lifted an eyebrow. "Why'd she do that if they're evil spirits? Don't they belong in the Shadow Temple?"

"You're very mistaken, Spirit of Fire." Sheik chuckled a bit. "The Shadow Temple was once a place of worship for the Sheikahs, very similar to what the Fire Temple is to the Gorons, or the Water Temple is to the Zoras."

"Oh…Never mind then." Joey shrugged again.

"Listen…" Sheik started. "The Shadow Temple is under a curse again. The power is ten times more powerful than it was when Impa first sealed, since now it is feeding off of Ganondorf's evil. Impa can't handle it alone."

"You mean she's already on it? Alone?" Katara stared.

"Yes." Sheik nodded. "Impa already went to the Shadow Temple to deal with it, but I'm afraid that she'll be easily overwhelmed without assistance."

"No…" Link seemed worried again.

"Impa, excuse my brutal honesty, might very well be killed now that the spirits are more powerful." Sheik seemed worried himself. "Let me tell you, Impa is the Sage of Shadows, that much is already confirmed. In the vast darkness of the Shadow Temple, she can't hear the awakening call that she knew she was supposed to get soon. She was already aware of you all coming, but wandered in the temple to deal with it."

"What do we do?" Kaori asked.

"First, you need to deal with the Well." Sheik gestured to the Well behind him. "Both the Well and, more so, the Shadow Temple is filled with nasty illusions that only one item can see past: the Lens of Truth. That is located in the Well. If you traverse down there to get it, you have better chance in the Shadow Temple."

"Okay then." The group nodded.

"Here's the catch: you can't do the Well as adults, as you are now." Sheik nodded. "You have to go back to being kids, since the passage is so small, only children can enter. Once you have the well done, you can get to the Shadow Temple."

"Well, we're going to be kids again." Kaori smiled.

"Before I continue explaining, let me teach you this song." Sheik pulled out his harp. "This is the song that will take you to the Shadow Temple: the Nocturne of Shadow!" Link pulled out his ocarina, and listened to Sheik strum the strings of the harp, playing off a slow, sad tune. Link followed and the surrounding area was filled with a depressing song as the pair played the duet. The song finished, and somehow, the song seemed to fit the moment.

"That's sad." Aya stated.

"Yeah…" Navi nodded.

"Let me tell you one more thing, Spirits!" Sheik turned to the other five. "You will retain your powers even as kids. Now that you're awakening your abilities, they'll stay with you through time."

"That is nifty." Aya smiled.

"Good, now…Remember your goals!" Sheik stepped back, as the group assumed these were his final words. "Get the Lens of Truth down in the well, and then get to the Shadow Temple! I'll deal with the village now, and help the citizens, you do your part!" Sheik ran off, instead of dropping the Deku Nut.

"So, I need to document that moment." Navi broke the silence. "Sheik left without dropping a Deku Nut this time."

"I'm still in shock…" Aya said. "Jeez, what else? A gorilla in roller skates falls out of the sky?"

"I had a dream about that once…And the gorilla's name was Jiminy." Link mused.

"That's our cue to go to the Temple of Time now." Kaori sighed loudly. After a whack on the head by Navi, Link played the Prelude of Light, and the group found themselves in the Temple of Time. After walking to the room where the Master Sword was, they stood there.

"So…" Link stared, causing the group to slap themselves. "What do I do again?"

"I believe you put the Master Sword back in the pedestal." Kurama sighed.

"Yeah…Sheik told us that, remember?" Aya rolled her eyes.

"Oh…We figured that out when we went to Teapot Land to see Captain Teapot!" Link cheered.

"I thought Sheik was Captain Teapot?" Navi whispered.

"Since when has Link ever had anything right in his mind?" Joey smiled.

"Never…" Navi responded back.

Link walked up to the pedestal, and with the rest of the group's hands on the handle as well, they slammed the sword back into the pedestal. There was an eruption of blue light, and suddenly the group felt lightheaded. It was as if there was a separation, and it felt similar to an out-of-body experience; definitely a surreal feeling.

"Whoa…" Link was, as usual, the first to break another silence. This silence, though, was one caused by the group trying to regain themselves. "Wait…I'm short again! Wee! Wait…That's bad…No! Damn! Wait…I still cuss! Nifty!"

"Does anyone else think he was the slightest bit more calm in the future?" Navi turned.

"Slightly…very slightly, yes." Aya brushed herself off.

"Link!" Kaori exclaimed

"Huh?" Link whirled around on one heel.

"And he was the slightest more graceful in this time period." Navi inquired.

"Is graceful the right word?" Katara stared.

"No. But it's the best I could come up with." Navi plopped herself down on Link's head. "Now, to the Well…Again…"

The travelers exited the Temple of Time, and found themselves with a small case of sadness. Hyrule Castle Town was still in chaos, similar to what it was when they left the first time. It was raining slightly, and the fires had been put out, but there was still a feeling of looming sadness. They walked back out to the square, where they saw that the Castle was now slowly crumbling. The regality it once held was diminished as it was reduced to a burning, crumbling pile of stone. Looking around they saw crying children and adults…trying to clean up the mess.

"This must be before Ganon rebuilt the Castle and ravaged the city." Katara mused.

"Listen." Navi started. "I don't want to sit here and worry about it. We have a job to do."

"I know, but…" Joey trailed off.

"I hate that guy." Link seemed honest.

"We all do." Kaori nodded in agreement.

"Let's go now." Navi started to fly off. "We have to get the Well through."

"Jeez, Navi." Joey started to run after her with the rest. "Don't be so much in a hurry."

"She has a point, Joey." Kurama turned while running. "If you think about it, we have a time limit. Impa is in the Shadow Temple by herself and we have only so much time before something else happens."

"He doesn't pay attention." Katara said wryly.

"Yes I do." Joey shot back.

"No you don't!" Katara lifted an eyebrow. "If you had been paying attention and used your senses, you would have known that there was something off about Kakariko Village!"

"Don't get on me!" Joey whined.

"And off we go with another one of Joey and Katara's famous arguments." Aya rolled her eyes.

"Let them argue." Kurama smiled a bit.

"Nothing's worse than that last incident…" Navi trailed off a bit.

"Eh, they'll recover." Aya smiled. "They seem to have put it beside them…As they're demonstrating."

"We'll just ignore that incident for now." Kurama smiled. After awhile, the group arrived at Kakariko Village.

"It's so nice to walk in here and not see it on fire." Navi said sarcastically.

"Yes it is." Kaori sighed. "That was a bit depressing."

"You mean the thingy and the thingy that went boom?" Link turned to the Spirit of Wind.

"Uh…What?" Kaori stopped and stared.

"The thingy…that went 'oh, I'm a thingy' and went boom?" Link seemed to be the only one who understood his gibberish.

"Speak normally, you nincompoop." Navi turned.

"The fires and the shadowy thingy that went 'let's get Captain Teapot' and they're like 'wait, I don't have my teapot of greatness' and they're like 'oh yeah, sure!' and the other dude's like 'well, face my almighty teapot powers, bitches!!'" Link was waving his arms around and jumping up and down.

"Is he talking about the Well? And how the thingys burst out of the well and hit us?" Kaori turned to Link.

"Yes! You're an angel!!! You understand me!!!" Link embraced Kaori in a giant bear hug, kissing her enthusiastically on the head. Kaori's face was about the color of Kurama's hair.

"Uh…" Kaori was blushing, and just giggled nervously.

"Well, isn't that cute?" Navi seemed to enjoy it.

"Do you like it whenever something embarrassing happens to us?" Joey looked up at the pixie.

"Yes." Navi simply responded. "Only because even after all of the stuff that happens to you, you all still won't get together. It's amusing."

"Awkward…" Katara turned away. Link finished his praising of Kaori.

"Um…Um…Um…Let's go!" Kaori turned. "I'm fine."

"That's good to know." Navi plopped herself back on Link's head.

"So, do we start?" Joey stared at the Well.

"We have to…drain it first…" Aya pointed out.

"Damn." Joey slapped himself.

"We're still cussing and we're kids again." Kaori lifted a finger.

"I don't care." Joey laughed a bit. "What controls the Well's water again?"

"The Windmill…Duh…" Navi responded.

"Yeah, get off me." Joey stuck his tongue out. The group went to the Windmill, and saw the same weird, organ-grinder dude sitting there, playing the same song.

"So…How do we drain the water?" Link lifted a hand and rubbed his neck.

"Well, it isn't like we can just walk up there and say 'can you drain the water so we can eliminate the evil spirits down in the well?'." Aya pointed out.

"What about that one song you all learned in the future. The one you guys found out when you practically first woke up." Navi pointed out.

"Wait…Isn't that the same song he's playing now?" Joey's memory was triggered.

"Yes." Kurama nodded. "Wasn't it called the Song of Storms?" Kurama inquired.

"Yep." Navi nodded. "But the song seems to control the Windmill's operations. It's magic or something, but it seems to control it depending on what speed it is. Link!"

"Huh?" Link turned.

"Play the Song of Storms." Navi instructed.

"Why?" Link lifted an eyebrow.

"Because! If you play it, you might drain out the Well…So do it!" Navi seemed aggravated.

"Okay…" Link pulled out his ocarina and the same piece of paper that Kurama wrote the songs down on. Link played the strange song and suddenly the Windmill began spinning in the opposite direction, and was going around wildly.

"Wait…What's going on? It's going around and around and around, but it's fast!" the organ grinder was talking to himself. After a minute, the Windmill steadied. The group ignored the organ grinder and ran outside, happy to see the Well was dry. Hopping back down, the heroes stared down at the Well.

"So…" Aya trailed off. "Who's going in first?"

"Who else?" Joey pushed Link down.

"AHHHHH!!!!!!" Link screamed and they heard a loud "thump." "Ow!!"  
"Now that we know it's safe, we jump." Joey followed, as well as the rest.

"You're evil!" Link whined. "Why do you always push me?"

"You're our test subject." Navi hopped back to Link's head.

"Okay…" Link sighed but turned, now distracted. "Look…A hole…And blood…and rust…all on the walls…Sparkly…and icky…ooh…"

"We're going in now…" Navi sighed loudly.

And with that, the group entered the nasty well through the passage…

**A/n: **So, there you have it… The Well is up next…So… Get ready dudes…


	33. In Death's Territory

**A/n:** Oh yeah…I'm here with a double update! Go me…

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Zelda…Whatever…

**Chapter 33: In Death's Territory**

"Well…This isn't creepy…" Joey commented as the group entered the Well.

"What would give us that idea? The dead moaning and the blood and skeletons are quite homey." Aya added to the sarcasm.

"Um…I think I just stepped on…a finger…" Kaori jumped a bit.

"Eew." Navi seemed totally unfazed by it all.

The Well was, by far, the most unpleasant of the places they had gone so far. There were sad, earsplitting moaning sounds coming from all directions and it was loud and monotonous of enough that anyone could go crazy from it. There was blood staining the walls and ground, and skeletons leaned in corners.

"The skeletons are saying 'Find the Eye of Truth.'" Navi pointed out.

"Do I want to know?" Joey lifted an eyebrow at the fairy.

"I just rock like that." Navi shrugged. The group walked further before being stopped by a Giant Skulltula.

"I hate these things." Joey said tartly. Forming a fireball in his hands, he shot it at the Giant Skulltula. Link stabbed it's back with the sword, and after that, it was gone. The group then stopped at a big wall.

"We're getting somewhere." Joey rolled his eyes.

"Is the lens-thingy in a pile of gunk or something?" Link seemed willing enough to go and inspect a pile of whatever-it-was for the group.

"As gross and funny as that would be, no…I highly doubt it." Navi answered. Navi then flew through the wall.

"She just flew through the wall." Joey had a finger pointed.

"Hm…" Kurama followed…The girls did too, and Joey and Link stood there in disbelief.

"Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Link cried out in a melodramatic tone. "The dead have taken them in an attempt to seek revenge on the living. They've come to take over the world…"

"Dude…We're here…" Aya poked her head through the wall.

"So…The wall's an illusion?" Joey rubbed his head.

"Yes." Katara's voice was heard.

"I so knew that." Joey declared and walked through.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO-"Link was cut off when Joey's hand poked through the wall and dragged him to the other side. "Oh…Hi!" Link waved.

"Moving on now…" Navi sat back down on Link's head. The heroes began to move forward. Water still flooded some passages and left big puddles here and there. The travelers came a huge monster statue coming out of a wall that had a spout of water coming out of this gaping mouth. In front of the statue was a Triforce emblem…

"We all know what the emblem means…" Aya twirled a finger.

"It means play the damned lullaby." Navi said monotonously.

"Is anyone else getting sick of that song?" Kaori piped.

"Yes…We all are probably. It's, like, the key to everything." Joey rolled his eyes.

"What song?" Link turned.

"Just play Zelda's Lullaby." Navi commanded. The Hero of Time played it and there was a bit of a rumble. Then, all of the water in the passages puddles included, disappeared.

"That's helpful." Navi stared.

"I'm assuming there's something hidden in the canals of the passages… Now that the water's gone, it might help us to look." Kurama suggested.

"That works." Joey shrugged and the group started walking around the canals. Soon, Navi found another crawl-passage.

"Uh…Here's a passage-thingy…" Navi called out.

"I'm also getting sick of this crawly-passage thing." Link whined.

"Eh… Whatever." Aya shrugged. The group crawled through the passage and arrived to a door. Once through, the door slammed shut and barred over.

"Oh…Goody…" Katara said tartly, looking around.

"…" Joey smirked a bit and poked Kaori, making a weird crawly feeling up her neck as he tickled it.

"Eek!!" Kaori jumped, and then whirled around to glare a Joey. "That was mean!"

"Moron." Katara stepped on his foot.

"Ow…" Joey sulked.

"Ah!!!" Link's scream broke the silence. Turning around, the rest saw a white, bony hand with a death grip on Link's head. Its sharp fingers dug into the side of his face, and blood dripped down the sides and down his neck. There were muffled screams and gasping sounds as it choked the Hero of Time.

"Let go of him!" Joey declared, forming his flame sword (a smaller version, given the fact that they were kids) and sliced through the hollow bones of the hand. Link fell over in a shocked, dazed heap.

"Eek…" Kaori knelt down next to Link. "Are you okay?"

"…I'm fine!" Link smiled, ignoring the blood and puncture wounds. "What was that thing again?"

"We'll see, now won't we?" Navi responded. Then, a strange, shriveled creature popped out of the ground. It had long fangs of some form and long, bony arms with rotted flesh hanging from it. Beady but piercing red eyes stared at the heroes, and it slowly moved towards them.

"What is that thing?" Aya backed up.

"That's a Dead Hand." Navi responded. "But I don't know how to defeat it."

"That helps." Joey sighed.

"Get off me, you moron." Navi turned. "I didn't study into Shadow creatures too much. I never truly expected to go down here, or in the Shadow Temple."

"We understand…" Katara stepped on Joey's foot again, causing him to yelp pathetically.

"Ah!" Link jumped out of the way of another hand popping out of the ground. He slashed it, but noticed there were more. "Ah…again!" Link slashed more. Kurama managed to get out of the way of one's grasp, and the rest did too. Link pushed Kaori out of the way of one.

"Eek…" Kaori clung to Link's arm.

"You okay, Kaori?" Link turned.

"Um…Yeah!" Kaori formed a smaller version of her bow. After a few minutes the group came to a conclusion.

"This is getting nowhere." Joey sighed, twitching an eyebrow in mild annoyance.

"No matter how you do it, the thing is too fast to strike…" Navi seemed to be in thought.

"Yo, Red…" Joey turned to Kurama, dubbing someone, yet again, a new nickname.

"Yes?" Kurama turned.

"Have you figured anything out yet?" Joey asked.

"I'm working on it, Joey." Kurama reassured.

"Ah!" Link dodged another hand.

"…" Navi and Kurama both seemed deep in thought.

"Kurama…" Navi seemed to have reached some sort of a breakthrough. "Did you figure it out?"

"…" Kurama nodded his head. A sharp, bony hand popped up in front of Kurama, but instead of running (though either way it would have been hard to dodge) he stood there and let it grab his face and neck.

"Kurama...!" Aya turned. Kurama could be heard gasping a bit, since it was choking him, and blood dripped down through the bony fingers… The Dead Hand itself then appeared behind Kurama, ready to kill him for good, when Kurama quickly, and unnoticeably, formed his vine sword and broke from the tight grip of the hand, and slashed the Dead Hand, very hard and quickly. It screeched loudly and retreated back underground.

"Jeez!" Aya ran over to the redhead, who like Link, had puncture wounds on his head and head. "What was that?  
"Are you crazy?" Joey seemed frustrated.

"I'm not crazy, Joey." Kurama lifted a hand. "Navi and I figured it out. If you let it grab you for long enough, the Dead Hand will appear behind you. Just hit it then. Actually, it shouldn't take much more of that."

"That is wonderful and all, but Link didn't hear a word of it." Navi gestured to a screaming Link, whose neck was now in a death grip.

"AHHH!" Link choked out. When the Dead Hand appeared, Kaori shot it with a couple of arrows and it shrieked again, retreating back underground.

"I've got our solution to making this easier on us." Joey grabbed Link's arm, who looked up at the fellow blond, confused. When another hand popped out, Joey shoved Link into it and waited for the Dead Hand to appear again. It did, and Kaori shot it again, and to help, Katara used her water whip on it.

"Did we finally do it?" Katara looked at the Dead Hand, who shrieked loudly, again, and dissipated into a blue mist.

"You're mean!" Link turned around, pointing to Joey. "You evil being! You were going to sacrifice me or something!

"Actually, Link…" Kurama jumped in. "Doing that was to help us. If you were the distraction, we could hit the Dead Hand while it was behind you."

"Oh…" Link shrugged. "Okay, forget the evil-being thing."

"Sure." Joey shrugged.

"Hey, guess what everyone?" Aya said sarcastically, and pointed to a big chest.

"Oh! I want to open it!!" Link practically hopped over there, and enthusiastically opened the chest. He seemed in awe when he pulled out the prize. It was a small, purple microscope of sorts. It had gold at the ends, and pinkish colored spikes coming out of ht top. The lens itself was a swirling mix of purple, red, and pink.

"I'm going on the wild assumption that that is the Lens of Truth?" Aya turned.

"Well, since we don't have a description that works for me." Navi plopped down on Link's head again.

"Well, shall we move on then?" Kurama rubbed his neck where a couple of the wounds were.

"Go!!!" Link cheered and went forward past the door. After leaving the canal area, they climbed back to stable land and went down more passages.

"So, where do we go next?" Joey turned. "You know, to find an exit?"

"I vote we just walk on." Navi sighed. The heroes went forward, and stopped at another crawl space.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Katara nodded. The group crawled past it and arrived in another room. The room had a door on the other side and there was Beamos in the center.

"Here we-"Link was cut off before he slipped through the floor. Kurama managed to grab his hand before he totally fell, and pulled him back up with Joey's help.

"Dude…It's called the Lens of Truth for a reason." Navi seemed frustrated. "Use it."

"Oh…The pretty purple thing…" Link pulled out the Lens of Truth. "How do you work this thing again?"

"You look through the lens?" Aya lifted an eyebrow.

"Oh…So, there's a path there, and no floor there, and that one thing there…and oh…" Link was rambling to himself.

"Give me that…" Joey snatched the Lens of Truth from Link, and stared through it. "Well, I think we can get to the door if we go around this way." Joey used hand gestures with his free hand.

"Okay." The group, with a sulking Link in tow, began to walk around, carefully. The group stopped when the Beamos decided to blast them.

"Ah!" Aya was about to get blasted, but Kurama put out his arm in front of her and got the blast instead. "Ah! Kurama… Why'd you do that?"

"Well, it would be very bad if it hit you." Kurama smiled.

"He's such a gentleman." Navi sat on Link's head. "Take lessons, you two." Navi looked at Link and Joey.

"I take that to offense." Joey pulled out a bomb and threw it at the Beamos, destroying it.

"It was meant as offensive." Navi countered.

"What's a gentleman?" Link looked up at the fairy.

"Never mind, Link." Navi sighed loudly. After more careful inching, the group got to the door. Walking through it, they came to a new room. It was a large room with a narrow brown-like bridge trailing all and around a pool of steaming, green acid. There was some land on the other side of the green pool, and a ladder above that to what some assumed to be the exit. Scattered around the pool were silver rupees.

"Is this one of those 'collect-all-the-rupees' things?" Joey turned.

"You bet." Navi nodded, completely unfazed. "Oh, and Joey?"

"What?" Joey turned.

"A ReDead is walking up behind you… Kill it or you'll die." Navi said monotonously.

"Ah!" Joey whirled around and slashed through the gummy flesh of the ReDead with his fire sword, setting it on fire when he did so. "Uh…Thanks?"

"No problem." Navi turned around. "Oh, and that was the only one….So…there."

"Well, there's one problem solved." Kurama smiled slightly at that moment.

"There are a lot of rupees, so do we just split up and get them all?" Katara asked.

"Works for me." Navi sat firmly on Link's head. "Hi ho, Blondie!" Link cheered and ran around the bridge, and began collecting rupees. Kurama followed suit and hopped up to another direction. Soon, all of them were scattered collecting rupees.

"Okay, so, we've got them all, right?" Joey said later when they were all gathered on the other side of the pool.

"You're missing one." Navi said, and flew up the ladder. "There's one up here at the exit!"  
"I'll get it!" Link began to climb up, but lost footing and fell to the ground mid-way. He sat there in a dazed heap. "Ooo….."

"Someone grab the moron down there and get up here!" Navi waited up at the top. Joey grabbed Link and began climbing up there, and everyone followed. When the last rupee was collected, they all disappeared and the bars on the door lifted.

"Let's hope this is the exit…" Katara said. The group walked through the passage. There was a bit of light, and the heroes found themselves in the area outside the entrance to the Well…

"Hey…" Katara looked around. "Did we do it?"

"We have the Lens of Truth, so I think its mission accomplished." Navi laughed. The group climbed up the ladder and out of the well, and stood there.

"Dude…" Joey turned to Link, who was now no longer dazed. "Play that one song…"

"What one song?" Link seemed confused (as always.)

"He means the Prelude of Light." Aya confirmed.

"Oh…" Link pulled out his ocarina and began to play it.

"So he can't remember anything else, but he usually remembers the songs and how to play the ocarina." Aya started.

"How is that?" Katara looked up at Navi.

"I don't know." Navi sighed. "It must just be…a Link-thing."

"It must be." Kaori laughed a bit. Gold light engulfed the group and they found themselves in the Temple of Time. Walking to the room with the Master Sword, everyone now stood in front of the mighty sword.

"Okay!!" Link grabbed the hilt of the blade, and everyone followed suit. He pulled out the Master Sword, and the blue lights surround them again. Once again, the surreal, dizzy feeling swept over everyone as they felt that "out-of-body" experience.

"I'm so okay…" Joey, this time, broke the silence. "You know, I like being an adult better." Joey smiled. "I like this outfit better. I like Katara's outfit better…"

_Whack!!! _

"Pervert…" Katara huffed.

"…" Joey whimpered with his hands on top of his head.

"…" Kurama shook his head.

"I thought I told you to be a gentleman." Navi turned to the fiery blond.

"Telling Joey to be a gentleman is like telling Link not to talk to himself…It will never happen." Aya smiled.

"Good point." Navi shrugged, and sat down on Link's head, as usual. "Okay…So…Link…Play the latest song Sheik taught you."

"The creepy, sad song?" Link looked up.

"Yes, the creepy, sad song." Navi smiled. "It's our way to the Shadow Temple.

"Woo-hoo…" Joey said wryly. Link pulled out his ocarina and began to play it. The Nocturne of Shadow echoed through the temple before purple lights engulfed the group, again…

**A/n: **There's your update, and I hope people actually review this time! I'm working on updating it more frequently!!!

No explanations needed for theses chapters, so whatever!

Review!!


	34. Medallion of Shadow Part 1

**A/n:** Sorry for the totally belated update people! School sucked the last six weeks, and it required me to not update as often. But summer's here and I'll update more now. If you've read my profile, you'll see I've set a goal to get this story done this summer. And then the sequel will get underway. Can you imagine this group in Termina people?

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own Zelda, dudes…

**Chapter 34: Medallion of Shadow Part 1**

"Well, this doesn't look promising, and we're not even in the temple yet." Joey commented. After the warp led them to the balcony-like place above the Graveyard, the group went down a small set of stairs to an entry area before the main doors. The door had the classic Sheikah eye and whatnot and everywhere were torches and in the center of the torches, a platform.

"This is sad. The pretty torches aren't lit anymore…" Link mused, poking one of the torches innocently.

"Ignoring that, anyone have any bright ideas on how to get the main door open?" Joey turned.

"I've figured it out." Kurama stated.

"Good, because we're lost." Katara entered the conversation.

"If it's any consolation to anyone, we think it involves fire." Aya lifted a hand, signaling her sarcasm.

"Fire?" Joey suddenly got distracted by the 'sacred' word.

"Oh…Shiny, hot stuff?" Link, too, lost his focus, or what little there was of it.

"Back to focus, you two!" Navi scowled. "We're on a bit of a time crunch considering if we don't get this temple done quickly, Impa will die and we'll be left short a Sage!"

"That would really suck, too." Aya said.

"Back to what I was saying…" Kurama intervened. "Someone stands on the platform there and lights the torches."

"The what and does the what?" Link turned around from whatever he was doing.

"Oh…" Kaori piped. "I see."

"We use Din's Fire." Kurama confirmed, happy that at least the girls were getting it.

"I see now." Joey finally focused. "You mean that stuff finally comes in handy? We haven't used it since the Great Fairy gave it to us five years ago."

"Precisely…" Kurama smiled. "Who wished to the honors?"

"I vote Link out because if he does it, he'll do something wrong and kill us all…but Joey."

"Huh?" Link said. "Hey! That's mean!"

"Am I wrong, nincompoop?" the fairy countered.

"…Yes! Yes!" Link stamped his foot in a cute, childish manner.

"Link." Kaori stepped on his foot. "Can you focus for one second?"

"Huh?" Link said for the umpteenth time. "Kaori!"

"Joey, just do it." Kurama pointed the platform. "If not, this argument could go on for a considerable amount of time."

"I hear you, dude." Joey hopped up the platform and cast Din's Fire, which very much more powerful in his hands, and ignited all the torches at once.

"Oh…The Sacred Torches are lit!!" Link cheered and did a funky twirl-dance-thing as the door went up.

"If the creepy zombies want a sacrifice or collateral or something, we use him first, okay?" Navi said, rather annoyed with the hat-clad hero.

"…" Kurama shook his head, but laughed at the comment, and the girls nodded their heads.

"Link!" Kaori grabbed his arm and dragged him in the temple with the rest, putting an abrupt stop to his dancing.

_In the temple…_

"This is…kind of…I don't know…weird?" Joey looked around. They were only in a hall of some form, but it was pitch-black, save for Navi's light."

"Well, I guess it's called the Shadow Temple for a reason." Aya quipped. "I guess a building behind a graveyard would be dark."

"Well, I don't like the fact that I can't see my own hand in front of me, kay?" Joey quirked an eyebrow, his voice rather annoyed at the moment.

"So…" Navi interrupted. "Shouldn't we get some more light then? I can't do it all alone."  
"Ooh…" Link's voice broke another almost-serious conversation. "I just realized I can't see anyone but Navi."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Navi's voice dripped waterfalls of sarcasm at that one.

"It's nifty…I wonder if anything's staring at us…Like zombies or something." Link's fragile mind wandered off, away from the point.

"Do go on discussing our current predicament, or take this little trip with him?" Aya turned.

"I'm really not that sure." Kaori sighed loudly. "I've almost given up on understanding him."

"Well, he's your boyfriend." Navi commented in a slightly bemused tone.

"Huh?" If seeing were possible, Kaori's face probably would've been a color similar to that of Kurama's hair.

"Never mind what I said." Navi laughed. "You, Spirit of Light-chick!"

"Way ahead of you." Aya said, and formed a ball of gold light that covered her hand. "You know, Joey, you could help."

"I could…Oh yeah!" Joey suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Yes, Joey." Katara patted him on the back, as she could see most of him now via Aya's light. "Fire can be a source of light, too, my dear."

"Yeah, get off me." Joey turned, snapping his fingers and creating a ball of fire that made his hand look like a torch. "And don't you dare bring up the Spirit-of-Water-can't-drown-thing. I know that's what y'all are thinking."

"What would give you such an idea?" Navi asked after whacking Link on the head and getting him to start walking. Now the group headed downs the halls.

"I know you well, now." Joey said in tired tone.

"…" Kurama just shook his head.

"Do you have a comment, Kurama?" Joey lifted an eyebrow to the normally quiet redhead.

"If I did, Joey, you can be reassured that I would only make it if necessary." Kurama turned.

"Sure, dude, sure." Joey sighed loudly, defeated.

"Besides, the girls have handled it already, anyway." Kurama stated before the group stopped at a gap. It had a hookshot target on the other side above it, and after jumping and/or using the Longshot to get by, they came to a large room, only a few torches were dimly lit. From what they could see, in it there was what appeared to be no doors, and a large statue that could be turned around in circles towards several unlit statues. Across there was a big gap and a door across it.

"This gets us somewhere." Katara commented dryly.

"…" Kurama seemed to be inspecting the entire room. "I don' think the statue concerns us right now."

"What makes you say that?" Joey turned to the redhead.

"I think it might have something to do with removing the bars on that door across the gap. But it's far too big for any of us to jump. I assuming that there's something else we need to get first."

"Whatever." Joey sighed.

"What happens when you turn the statue?" Link asked, merely poking it.

"I don't know." Navi was seated on his head. "In the Shadow Temple, nothing's for certain. It's full of traps and puzzles."

"So this was a worship place for the Sheikah?" Joey turned up the fairy.

"Yep." Navi answered.

"The Sheikah certainly wanted this place secret." Aya said wryly, lifting her hand a little higher to give everyone a bit more light.

"It's a little creepy if you ask me." Kaori said, her foot making a "clack" sound as her boots tapped the ground.

"Everything connected with the Sheikah so far is creepy." Katara said.

"So." Joey piped. "What now? I can't see anywhere else to go."

"If it's anything like the Well, then I'm assuming that we'll need the Lens of Truth." Kurama said. "The Well was filled with a lot of illusions."

"The Sheikah's trademark…" Navi confirmed. "They obviously didn't want anyone else to see where they were going."

"Illusions are bad." Link whined. "You can't see if they're real."

"That's the point, buddy." Joey patted the shorted boy on the head.

Kaori smiled.

"At least Kaori likes me!" Link declared in a melodramatic manner.

"Yeah, we don't like him." Aya rolled her eyes. "Dude, we wouldn't have put up with you for so long if we hadn't liked you."

"Really?" Link's eyes grew big and puppy-ish in the dim light.

"Really, Link." Kaori confirmed.

"I hate to interrupt this sentimental moment and all, but there's a place to go through to another room right there in the wall." Kurama pointed out, pointing to an area in the wall. The Lens of Truth was in his hand, to his face. Apparently, he had fished it out of the packs during the conversation.

"That helps…" Aya regained focus and the group walked through the wall. Now, they were in a rather confusing maze of sorts with torches still dimly lit, so Joey and Aya kept at their own lights. In the corners of the maze were skeletons, strewn in strange positions.

"I'm still freaked out." Kaori shuddered a bit.

"Can I poke the skeleton?" Link looked up at Navi.

"No." she replied.

"Why not?"

"Because they're nasty…and dead…"

"But wouldn't it be fun to poke?"

"Not unless you want your fingers to smell like dead people."

"What do dead people smell like?"

"Want to find out?" Navi said that in one of her menacing-fairy tones.

"No…" Link trailed off in fear of the pixie's wrath.

"Well congratulations everyone." Joey pointed a door. "We've discovered a door…Woo-hoo."

"What I've always wanted." Aya added. The heroes opened the door, sending Link in first, as promised, and looked around. It was another dark, dirty room that had that rotten, rancid smell that made them all gag.

"Bleh…" Katara coughed. "I hate this temple."

"Ick." Aya kept up her light, but used her free hand to cover his mouth and nose.

"Is this what dead people smell like?" Link asked.

"Let me ask you Link, why would you think I know what dead things smell like?" Navi turned down to the Hero of Time, who was covering his own nose and mouth.

"Because you're Navi…and you know everything else." came the muffled reply.

"Thanks." Navi said dryly. Then, a white, grimy hand shot out of the ground and grabbed Link's face, hand that was on it and all. "Oh yeah…Everyone, a Dead Hand's in here."

"Thanks for letting us know ahead of time." Joey sighed loudly, and was forced to switch his flame to his left hand to form his sword.

"I think Link forgot how to defeat it." Aya said with sarcasm in her voice.

"He forgets everything else." Navi said, now flying around. Kurama had formed his sword, and was now watching intently for the Dead Hand to appear behind Link. When it did, he ran quickly to it and slashed it, causing it to screech and disappear for the time being.

"That's how you do it." Link turned to Kurama. "Thanks! I remember. Let the hand-thingys grab you and try to eat you and stuff…Okay." Link rambled to himself as he pulled out the Master Sword and wiped some fresh blood from his cheeks.

"Eek!" Kaori screeched and everyone turned, as one of the hands now had a death grip on her neck.

"Kaori!" Link, in one of those rare moments, grew serious for a minute, and ran forward and slashed the Dead Hand again. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just surprised more than anything else." Kaori smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine." She gathered her bow, which she had dropped, and pulled an arrow through the string, ready for the next time.

"Hm." Kurama just looked.

"Oh look, a hand." Joey said, and let it grab him. Kurama slashed it and Kaori shot an arrow at it, injuring it twice, and it disappeared again.

"Whoa!" Katara signaled that another hand had grabbed her. When the Dead Hand appeared, Link, Kurama, and Joey all attacked it, and a loud, bloodcurdling shriek echoed through the small room. It dissolved in a mist, its remains now just dust on the ground.

"Have I mentioned how annoying those things are?" Joey questioned the group as he reformed his flame and turned towards an appearing chest.

"We all hate them." Katara used her finger to delicately wipe away some blood from a scratch on her cheek.

"I want to open the nifty chest!" Link cheered, as if he was claiming a new land for Hyrule or something, and pounced on the chest. He opened it, revealing a chest full of odd-looking boots.

"At least they don't have slabs of iron on the soles." Aya smiled, pulling out a pair. The boots were unusually light, like feathers. While they were made of the same material as other boots, there was light, metal like material sewn in on the bottom, and a little wing-like attachment on the back.

"Oh…" Navi said. "I think these are the Hover Boots."

"I like them better than the Iron Boots." Kaori said, kneeling next to the chest and inspecting a pair.

"Anyway, they're magic, if anything else." Navi explained. "From what I know, they're just meant to get 'hover' across large gaps and stuff. They're obviously useful in this temple if there was a chest full of them."

"It will be handy indeed." Kurama smiled. "I think this is what we use to get across that gap in the first room."

"How did you know we'd find something to help us?" Joey lifted an eyebrow suspiciously at Kurama.

"I didn't know. I merely assumed we'd find something of use." Kurama said simply.

"Whatever, dude." Joey shook his head. The group left the room and ran through the maze-hall and got back to the room with the spinning statue. Link went and touched the statue, ready to start moving it.

"I think there's a catch here." Navi said. "Use the Lens of Truth." Kurama, who was the unofficial holder of the artifact, looked through it and pointed to one of the torches.

"That one has a skull with it." Kurama informed the fairy. "The one closest to the entrance."

"Did you here that, nincompoop?" Navi turned.

"Yep!" Link said in a sing-song voice and turned the statue towards that torch. When he did, the bars on the door beyond the gap lifted.

"Yes!" Link cheered, immediately pulling out the Hover Boots. "I want to try out the flying Boots!!"

"They're the Hover Boots, doofus." Navi muttered. The group them on and found that there was very little friction.

"I think these are cool!" Kaori agreed.

"Well, being the Spirit of Wind, such boots are practically made for you." Kurama commented, standing calmly near the edge.

"Good point." Kaori smiled. "But they're still awesome. I'm with Link."

"These are so nifty!" was what Link responded before falling flat on his face.

"Are you okay?" Kaori asked.

"That was cool." Link lifted a finger and hopped to his feet.

"Someone try to get to the door, and go through it first because there isn't enough room on the platform for everyone." Navi said somewhat impatiently.

"I will!" Link didn't even hesitate and ran off the edge, skittering around ungracefully before getting to the edge and running through the door.

"I give that a ten." Joey commented before running across, more like gliding across. "This is fun!" was what he said before going through the door.

"Are we going to have to drag you across?" Aya turned to Kaori.

"N-no…" Kaori stuttered a bit.

"Think of it this way." Aya started. "You don't know what's beyond whatever's below us, so there's no real reason to be scared. Technically we're not at any height. Actually, we're level, if not underground!"

"I get it." Kaori sighed. "I'll be fine!"

"Besides, you should be a master of these boots!" Aya smirked. She went across next, followed by Kurama, then Katara. Kaori ran across last, skidding in the room much more gracefully then the rest.

"And the Sky Princess herself glides in with poise." Navi said, now sitting on Link's head.

"…" Kaori blushed a bit at the comment. "I wouldn't quite call myself that."

"It's my new nickname for you." Navi said. "It's like nincompoop for Link and pyromaniac for Joey, only nicer."

"I think that's a compliment." Kaori lifted an eyebrow, but nodded.

"That's as much of a compliment as you're getting out of Navi." Aya smiled. The group entered a chamber with a Beamos in smack in the middle. There were several other doors in each respective compass direction. Kurama peered through the Lens of Truth to look past the other doors.

"One is locked by chains, and the other two are just regular doors." Kurama explained.

"Well, to the northern one." Navi picked a random direction.

"I'm beginning to wonder who the boss of this group is." Joey asked.

"What do you mean?" Link turned up the taller blond.

"I've always considered, don't chastise me for it people, but I've considered Link the unofficial leader of the group." Joey shrugged. "But now I'm wondering if it might be someone else."

"I see." Kurama shrugged. "Actually, considering Link is the Hero of Time and has the Master Sword, I've assumed he was our unofficial leader of the brigade too."

"Well, Navi seems to be doing the picking." Joey quirked an eyebrow at Kurama.

"Yes, granted that." Kurama laughed a bit. "But that is only because Link is currently whistling something to himself."

"That makes sense, I guess." Joey sighed. "What about her then?"

"I believe Navi is merely the guide." Kurama noticed the two of them were a bit behind the others.

"Yeah." Joey laughed. "It's sad that our leader is the one singing to himself… Anyways, I consider you our second-in-command."

"Oh…That's nice, but I think you and I are both at a tie for that position."

"I guess, but you're the one figuring it all out."

"If you had to go through some of the puzzles on my world, you'd be good at this too. Besides, I'm just finding patterns in the temples along with Navi. We're both figuring it out."

"Do you ever take credit for any compliments you get?"

"I guess I'm just a bit modest is all." Kurama smiled.

"Oh well. Better than me I guess." Joey shrugged, and the two went through the door. Once through they realized they were behind because the others had gathered the key already.

"Did you two get lost or something?" Navi asked. "Usually you both are ahead of us."

"You could say we got lost in a conversation." Kurama smiled.

"We certainly get lost in conversations in the oddest of places." Aya said.

"What I like is that we have casual conversation when destroying monsters." Katara found that amusing.

"We're just used to it, that's all." Kurama answered. "But everything's abnormal with us."

"Good point." Katara lifted a finger. The group destroyed the Beamos and went to the next door, unlocking it, going on into the next room….

**A/n: **That chapter ends there, but there's more in this update, so whatever. This temple will probably be done this update or later. The Shadow Temple was never one of my favorites, but I'll try my best to make it somewhat interesting….


	35. Medallion of Shadow Part 2

**A/n: **I'm treating you all to a multiple chapter update! It makes for the fact that I haven't updated for awhile, so ha!

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own it, so ha to you…

**Chapter 35: Medallion of Shadow Part 2**

"Ah!!!" Link's scream echoed through probably half of the temple.

"Well then…" Navi said, probably just as surprised as the rest of the group. There was a continuously spinning statue in the shape of the Grim Reaper and on either side was a long, long scythe blade. When entering the room, Link nearly got decapitated.

"Maybe all of Link's near-death experiences are to blame for his psychosis." Aya suggested, taking a cautious step backwards.

"That would do a lot of explaining for it, wouldn't it?" Katara laughed.

"Yeah… He's nearly died so much that he turned off his brain." Navi sighed. "But, then again, he was a ditz when I first met him too."

"He's moreso now." Aya agreed, and then focused her attention back on the obstacle ahead.

"It's one of those classic 'collect-the-silver-rupee' deals." Kurama said in his usual, calm sarcastic manner.

"Except with a new feature: deadly, spinning scythes." Aya rolled her eyes.

"Just to shake things up." Navi completed the round of sarcasm.

"Yay!" Link ran in without even look and hopped up somewhat ungracefully to a platform, landing on one foot and barely missing getting his left leg amputated before putting in on the platform too. "Ta-da!!!"

"He must have the luck of Farore or something." Navi flew over to the Hero of Time, who plucked up the silver rupee.  
"I'm kinda scared to go in there and try because my luck sucks worse than both yours." Joey pointed.

"Not that much." Katara patted him on the back. "You just nearly drowned in the Water Temple."

"I'll go try next then." Kurama volunteered to save time, considering this group was notorious for wasting it. He waited patiently, unlike Link, and ran in at the right moment at a considerable pace hopping on to another platform using the wall as leverage. He collected two, one that was in the air and another that was on the platform he jumped on.

"Alright…" Joey sighed. "I guess I'll get this one. This one called for Joey to scoot very carefully, as one false move and the scythe blades would slice his chest open, against the wall to get one close to the door. "Who rocks now? I got it!"

"I got another one!!!" Link was waving from the back of the room, near the barred-over exit to the next room was. Though this action only caused for him to lose balance, and so he had to wave frantically, and somewhat pathetically, to regain it.

"Concentrate you moron!" Navi scolded. "I don't want to explain to Sheik, the Sages, and Zelda that one of their heroes died from getting dismembered by scythe blades!"

"Yeah, don't make us have to explain that one." Kaori sighed, rubbing her head, though somewhat amused by the Hero of Time's clueless antics. After a second more, all five silver rupees were collected and the bars lifted on the doors. The rupees disappeared, but the blades still spun. So, carefully, they all made it to the next door, and came to a tunnel, moreso than a hall. It went downwards, and they all assumed it was the first basement.

"Ah-again!!!" Link fell back on his butt when a Giant Skulltula hopped down from seemingly nowhere.

"How many times is he going to fall today?" Aya questioned.

"A lot." Navi said dryly. Once Link had sprung to his feet, he sliced the spider and it died.

"Evil menace!" Link had one of his moments where he went into an insane fit of maniacal laughter.

"He's having one of his moments again." Navi said in the same dry tone.

"I don't think all evil and destruction's going to halt for his 'moments' like we do." Aya sighed.

"Nope. While he's laughing like a lunatic for five minutes, Ganondorf's causing the next Apocalypse. Woo-hoo for heroes." Navi's tone hadn't changed.

"Okay!" Link spun on his heel, signaling he was ready to move forward. This time, the group stayed alert for Giant Skulltulas, destroying them accordingly. Before they went to through the open entrance to the next half of the basement, Navi stopped them.

"Warning…" Navi sound super-unenthusiastic, moreso than usual. "Listen, dudes. Remember those monsters in the Forest Temple, the Wallmasters?" Everyone nodded. "Well, guess what? There's some in the next half of the basement area. Just…thought you'd want to know."

"Well, getting lifted up to our deaths by creepy hands is bad." Aya commented.

"Navi?" Kurama looked up at the fairy, finally taking notice, as did everyone else, that the fairy's light was dimmer. "What's wrong?"

"Oh…" Navi barely answered.

"What?" Link looked up. "Ah! You're dim! You're usually bright!"

"Thanks dork." Navi said tiredly. "Let's see here… You could say fairies don't like darkness. Notice that there are no fairies here in the Shadow Temple."

"I've noticed now that you mention it." Joey looked.

"Fairies are creatures of light, hence the fact that we always…are…lit up, if you will." Navi explained. "Potent darkness is bad for us. When I say that, I don't mean something like a dark room, but a source of fresh darkness like this place and the Well kind of get to us. Getting a double exposure must have been bad for me."

"Why didn't you let us know before we came in?" Link looked up, worry in his eyes.

"You could have let us know before we even entered the Well. We could have just left you with Sheik for the time being." Joey pointed out. "I mean, we have Kurama to figure stuff out." This caused Kurama to slap himself.

"What he means is Navi, you shouldn't endanger yourself." Kurama put it simply.

"Well…I guess when you're the guides of the saviors of Hyrule, sacrifices against comfort are made." Navi was tired, but her classic sarcasm remained in her voice, if only a little bit. "Look, let's just move on."

"Good idea. Now we have two things to work against: Impa's struggle and Navi's struggle." Aya pointed out.

"I almost forgot about Impa." Kaori piped as they dashed into the next area, looking out for Wallmasters. "What happens if we're too late anyway?"

"We're SOL." Aya responded.

"…" Kaori sighed. "Do they have a backup Sage or something?"

"Ask that old Rauru guy." Joey shrugged. "I'm assuming if anyone has a plan, he does."

"Well, instead of contemplating a backup plan, let's just make sure that Impa doesn't die." Kurama concluded. "In any sense we act as the ones who make sure the Sages don't die."

"Well, considering that every time we get to a temple, they're in danger. Let's see, Saria was kidnapped by Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple, Darunia was practically maimed by Volvagia in the Fire Temple…and Ruto practically died in the Water Temple." Aya was careful in wording in the last part of her list.

"I blame myself for that." Katara chuckled absentmindedly.

"I blame Dark Link, not you." Aya argued.

"But still…" Katara smiled.

"Nope, Dark Link or Yami or whatever the fuck his name was, not you!" Aya declared.

"Wallmaster!" Navi warned. Aya looked up to see that the Wallmaster was close to falling on her. She dodged out of the way suddenly, tripping and being caught by Kurama. Katara stepped back several steps and threw out her hand, hitting it with her ice attack. Joey slashed it with his sword.

"Thanks." Aya looked up once Kurama had helped her regain her balance.

"No problem at all." Kurama smiled. In the mean time, the rest had disposed of the troublesome Wallmaster.

"I hated those things." Joey complained again, reforming his flame.

"I'd focus less on annoying things and more on the obstacle ahead of us, Joey." Kurama pointed calmly to what was head. To get to the next platform, they head to run across a small, long, thin platform with several falling guillotines (falling quickly, too).

"What did the Sheikahs think when they built this temple?" Joey threw a hand up in the air.

"I think it looks fun." Link poked in innocently.

"Yeah. If you mean decapitation looks fun." Navi's voice was tired.

"That looks fun." Katara commented as the girls joined in on looking at the upcoming obstacle.

"It isn't as difficult as it seems." Kurama mentioned. "It just involves timing your movements. If you move quickly and carefully enough you should get by it with all your limbs."

"What he said." Navi commented.

"I'm not going first." Kaori declared.

"I am!!!" Link ran headfirst with a blind enthusiasm. He hopped down on the platform, running swiftly and rolling past, dodging the falling blades. He was already going very fast and rolled off that platform and landed headfirst into the next, rolling and hitting his head lightly on the wall.

"Like I've said…He has the Goddesses' luck." Navi said, who retreated to Kurama's head, as she was up for flying with that.

"Hold on a second." Kurama grabbed Navi, so that she was in his hands. "You shouldn't fly alongside any of us, since you can barely fly anyways. You're small, how about just getting in my jacket pocket while I get past this?"

"Smart idea…I'm…not up for flying." Navi responded tiredly and Kurama put her in his front jacket pocket, hopping swiftly off the platform. He was much faster and more careful than Link, as he stood staring at the guillotines for a second, as if searching for a pattern, and then ran quickly, hopping and dodging, and then carefully leaping up the platform where Link was.

"Goddess… Here we go!" Joey jumped, and the girls followed in row together past the guillotines, determined to get past in a little clot. They did, and met the boys on the platform. Navi had retreated back to Link's head, though Kurama had put her there.

"I'm worried." Kaori commented, staring at the worn-out fairy.

"I'm fine, dudes." Navi lifted a small hand. "Just go on."

"Uh-huh…" Kaori nodded and the group ran through some more platforms, defeating a Stalfos, and getting to the next door. Once through it, the group immediately disposed of the Like-Like, with Joey slashing it. Though, once he did, he yelped and jumped back to a corner.

"What the hell?" Joey asked, taking his hand away from his cheek, revealing a fresh cut dripping blood.

"…" Kurama looked through the Lens of Truth. "Well, how convenient… It's one of those spinning Reaper statues. Remember the scythes?"

"What's with this temple and spikes, blades, and death?" Joey seemed frustrated.

"No one said the Shadow Temple was going to be pleasant Joey." Kurama commented calmly as the group inched to the door.

"Yeah, yeah…" Joey rolled his amber eyes and the group went to the next door. They all sighed, fully annoyed now.

"Not another rupee puzzle…" Link whined. "We just did that."

"Well, now there's another one." Navi said.

"Evil rupees!!!" Link pointed to one in the corner and had another one of his maniacal-laughing fits.

"While he does that…" Kurama hopped past the Beamos in the center and grabbed one.

"I've got one!" Aya called out.

"Is it me or am I only seeing four?" Katara said from her place.

"What?" Link whirled around on his heal to see that the visible rupees had already been collected by his comrades. "I'm confused-" he was cut off by the Beamos shooting a laser at him. Link subconsciously pulled out a bomb and threw it at the monster, destroying it and revealing the last rupee.

"Look at that." Aya shrugged as Kurama picked it up.

"Well, looks…like he did something…useful." Navi said.

"You all are mean." Link tapped his foot childishly.

"Moving on?" Kurama turned to the group.

"Yep!" the girls said in unison, and the travelers went to the next room. The next room was loud, the ceiling ,covered with spikes, was falling and crashing to the ground repeatedly.

"That's pleasant." Joey said. "How do we do this one?"

"There's a block right there." Kurama, still apparently keeper of the Lens of Truth, pointed to the wall.

"The wall?" Joey turned, having a bit of a blond moment.

"Since Navi can't be loud, I will." Katara volunteered, nodding at the fairy. "She means there's an illusion and a block hidden in the wall, you moron!"

"I get it now!" Joey argued back, and soon there was one of the duality-induced arguments happening.

"At this rate, the entire undead army of the Shadow Temple will come after us because those two really will have awaken the dead, they're so loud." Aya commented. "Dudes!"

"Huh?" Katara whirled around, a bit of blush on her face, her long braid hitting the poor Spirit of Fire in the face.

"Focus…please." Aya sighed.

"Oh yeah." Katara smiled. "Joey, you're the tall, buff one, grab the block."

"Why me?"

"Because Link is singing to himself again and Kurama's the one telling you where it is. So get it."

"Did I hear my name?" Link broke away from his…whatever you want to call it, and turned to the group.

"Nope… Just talking, Link." Kaori smiled.

"Oh…Hey, a block!" Link pointed at it like he'd discovered the Holy Grail or something.

"So…I'm lost again." Joey turned.

"Just push it under the spikes. Just enough though." Kurama warned.

"Alright. If I become a pin cushion because of this, I blame you." Joey pushed it, and when the spikes came down, they were blocked by the block, giving the group a way past the falling obstacle.

"I see now." Joey lifted a finger.

"Yay!" Link ran past it, and the rest followed, going into the next room via a ladder. The next chamber was a large one, and it was a lot creepier than the rest. It was a tomb of some form, they had concurred, and a skull idol lay in the center, giving off a light blue flame that flickered eerily against walls. The room was illuminated to see around, and they did notice that there were Keese on the ceiling, red eyes watching them, and Gibdos and ReDeads scattered here and there, their moans echoing.

"Ah…" Navi groaned a bit. "This chamber's…a lot…darker than the rest… It's getting worse as we move along…" She seemed to be in pain, and that was odd for the group, seeing as the fairy never got hurt. "I'm sorry everyone…I can't…help you…"

"Navi…!" Link whined.

"Listen…" Navi's voice was barely a whisper. "You all have done a million of these temples, you'll be fine. I've tried to fight it…but I can't anymore. I feel…very weak…and…I can't go on like…this…"

"…" the group nodded.

"Just…hurry…it up…okay?" Navi asked, but didn't get a answer, her glowing aura grew frightfully dim and she was unconscious now.

"Navi!" Link seemed hurt.

"…" Link looked up at Kurama, who had placed a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine if we hurry. If we get this temple secured quickly she has a chance at living, but, like I said, we have to hurry. Just put her some where safe."

"Uh-huh." Link complied with the redhead and put the small fairy in the pocket of his tunic.

"Uh…The ReDeads are marching towards us like they want to eat us." Joey announced.

"Great." Aya pulled out her sword. The rest followed suit. After a long tedious battle, the group managed to defeat the ReDeads.

"I can't help think that there's something different about the Gibdos." Kurama mused, staring at the rest of the zombies, though the Gibdos were covered in off-white wrappings and hung limply on their skinny bodies.

"What makes you think that?" Kaori turned.

"Just a feeling is all." Kurama shrugged.

"Hey everyone!" Joey waved a hand. He was touching the skull idol in the center. "This thing's hollow inside!"

"I know!" Link, trying to seem dorky and happy as usual (either it was pretend or actually real, no one questioned) and chucked a bomb at it. The blue flames erupted and the thing blew up, and in the bones was a dungeon key.

"Yes!" Link pointed in victory while Joey pocketed the key.

"Well, another random moment of idiocy actually gets us somewhere." Aya piped, waiting to move on.

"Who knew?" Katara sighed. The group took a few steps forward, only to find the Gibdos stalking towards them.

"Ah!" Kaori screamed a bit as the Gibdo launched at her. Instead of trying to suck her energy or whatever, it bit her…It sunk its teeth into her arm, causing some blood to squirt from her arm.

"Hey, ReDeads don't do that!" Link pointed accusingly.

"These are Gibdos, dude, not ReDeads." Joey dodged one and snapped his finger, setting one on fire. Kurama slashed one and there were a few ganging up on the redhead. He slashed one and before he slashed the other, it bit into his shoulder, teeth tearing his jacket and shirt, also causing blood to start flow. After awhile, the Gibdos were dead.

"Ow…" Kaori was wincing, cradling her arm with the other.

"Are you okay?" Link was knelt down next to her.

"Let me see." Katara grabbed the arm and carefully rolled up the sleeve to see that the bit mark was slowing turning a bluish-green color. "It's infected or something."

"My arm is numb if it helps." Kaori mentioned.

"I'm assuming it's poisoned." Kurama pointed out, making no comment to his own injury.

"What about you?" Joey turned.

"Let's not worry about that." Kurama smiled. "Let us just hurry on."

"But…" Aya began to protest.

"Let's just move on." Kurama smiled. The group found no use in arguing with the somewhat stubborn redhead, and ran on. The heroes found themselves in a room with a putrid stench, one that was worse than the one in the Dead Hand room. They turned to the source, and it was a pile of garbage, and other stuff that the group rather left a mystery.

"Let's see what this stuff is!" Link stepped forward to explore the garbage, but Joey grabbed him.

"Let's not…" Joey stared.

"If you're so anxious to find something in it, use a bomb." Kurama suggested.

"Good idea!" Link grabbed a bomb and threw it at the pile, incinerating it and revealing a silver dungeon key. Link pocketed it and the travelers went forward. After using a key, they entered past a couple of empty rooms and found themselves in themselves on a platform. The platform was in front of a floating platform or ship, whichever, and it seemed to float on nothing but fog.

"Uh…What do we do from here?" Joey turned to the redhead, holding his shoulder.

"There's a Triforce insignia on the floating platform." Kurama pointed to the platform. "If we get on it, and play the lullaby, it might help us with something."

"Let's try, we've got nothing else to lose here." Aya smiled. The group hopped on it.

"Play Zelda's Lullaby." Joey turned.

"That one song?" Link lifted an eyebrow.

"If we're thinking of the same song, then yeah." Joey shrugged.

"Yay!!" Link cheered and played Zelda's Lullaby, to everyone's relief. And then, the platform, now confirmed to be a ship, started moving forward, at a slow, creeping pace.

"This is odd…" Katara looked around.

"Well, a ship was the last thing I expected to find in a temple." Joey said dryly.

"But with this temple, everything is weird." Kurama completed the statement with a chuckle.

"Yeah."

The group stayed silently, as the ship crept forward to who-knows-where.

**A/n: **That's you're update people! Hope you're happy and I might have another one this weekend.

The Shadow Temple wasn't my favorite, so I'm trying hard to spice things up a bit with Navi and the Gibdo thing. That will actually help continue to reveal stuff about the Spirits, so be patient.

Review!!!


	36. Medallion of Shadow Part 3

**A/n: **Here I am again with another update. I got busy, but this set of chapters was meant to have been put up a week or so after the last update. Whatever… If everything goes according to plan, I should have gotten into the next OoT mission: Gerudo's Fortress… Let's just imagine this for a second…

Warning: not the most exciting chapter of the bunch…

**Disclaimer:** How many times am I going to have to do this?

**Chapter 36: Medallion of Shadow Part 3**

"Um…" Kaori's voice broke the somewhat awkward silence. (Though, this silence was understandable as they were afloat on a strange ship moving by itself in foggy darkness…)

"What's up Kaori?" Link turned his head to the Spirit of Wind.

"I can't move my arm…" Kaori pointed with her free arm.

"Huh?" Joey piped in.

"I can't move it." Kaori repeated. "It's…paralyzed."

"Probably the Gibdo bite." Kurama inquired. "I'm assuming it's poisonous or something."

"Yeah, if that fairy was still conscious, she probably would have told us." Joey rolled is eyes, only to be hit by Katara.

"You know she couldn't help it!" Katara scolded.

"I was joking, spare me!" Joey lifted his hands up innocently.

"Anyways…" Aya broke in before Katara and Joey flew off into one of their infamous fights.

"Anyway…" Joey repeated and turned to the redhead. "What about you, dude? You were bitten by that thing, too."

"I feel nothing abnormal as of yet." Kurama reassured. "It probably hasn't set in or something."

"That's weird. I would have thought it have by now." Aya chirped.

"Oh." Kaori sighed.

"That's a bit weird, I'm with Aya." Joey pointed.

"Well, I wouldn't quite say I'm normal, so, to me, this makes sense." Kurama smiled.

"We're all weird dude…You are not alone." Joey patted him on the back playfully. This was followed by silence.

"Uh…Are we sinking?" Joey asked, turning.

"I believe we are." Kurama confirmed.

"So…" Aya asked. "Why are we so nonchalant about all this?"

"Because, we've already seen everything in this temple…" Katara answered. "Nothing's unusual or bad anymore."  
"Instead of contemplating _why _we're sinking, how about we figure out how to not sink with it, hm?" Kurama suggested in his somewhat sarcastic manner.

"What would happen if we did sink?" Link chirped, causing some people to slap themselves. "Would we sink to oblivion? Meet the lord of the dead? Eat cookies with zombies?"

"Ignoring him…" Aya turned. "What now? We've got…like…three minutes."

"There's a ledge over there that seems fine." Kurama pointed.

"Are you sure about that?" Joey eyed the redhead.

"No, actually not…" Kurama smiled. "But not being certain is better than dying."

"That works." Aya piped, strapping on the Hover Boots. The group quickly got off the sinking ghost ship and made it to the ledge just in time.

"I wanted to eat a cookie with a zombie." Link pouted.

"Only you, Link." Joey sighed loudly as they went through a door on the ledge. They walked into an eerie, seemingly vacant room.

"Does anyone else have the icky, creepy feeling?" Link asked.

"If you mean that shivering feeling that something bad is going to happen, then, yes, we do." Aya nodded.

"The creepy feeling and a paralyzed arm…" Kaori sighed. "I have bad luck today."

"It's okay." Katara consoled.

"Everyone, I'd like to make an announcement." Kurama jumped in the conversation.

"What?" Joey and Link said at the same time. The girls just turned, and they seemed to have sensed something wrong.

"The walls are closing in and there are spikes on them." Kurama said in his usual, sarcastic manner.

"What?!" Joey and Link whirled around and finally noticed the slow, creeping walls.

"Ah! What do we do?" Link was freaking out…again.

"Well, come up with an idea fast or we'll die." Kurama said dryly.

"Nice idea." Aya returned the dry tone.

"AH!!!" Link screamed.

"Now that they're closer, I see the spikes are made of wood…" Kurama mused. "We can just eliminate them by fire."

"That's your job, doofus." Katara turned to Joey.

"Oh…" Joey tuned in and nodded. "Let's see if Din's Fire comes in handy again!" Joey cast the Goddess's spell, and pure red flames erupted from him as the wooden spikes were destroyed, as well as the walls.

"It appears that was merely a machination of sorts." Kurama mused again, staring at the real stone walls.

"How lame…" Aya trailed off with an annoyed expression.

"Well there's a chest." Katara sighed loudly. After Link did his dubbed "We found nifty chest" dance, the chest was opened and a Boss Key was revealed.

"Well, at least near-death by spikes gave us the Boss Key…" Aya said.

"I hate this temple." Joey muttered, annoyed.

"It's evil and creepy." Link agreed.

"And folks, the understatement of the year." Aya said.

"Wow." Kaori stared at Link and laughed a bit.

"What?" Link stared, confused.

"No worries, dude. You just stated the obvious…Just keep moving." Joey pushed the hero along through the door. The group ended back on the ledge.

"So…" Joey trailed off.

"What do we do now?" Link turned.

"It appears we're marooned here, so…look for a clue." Kurama had the Lens of Truth in his hands, like he'd just used it.

"Did the Lens-thingy give you anything?" Joey turned.

"Nope." Kurama shook his head. "That means there's something around here that's supposed to help us.

"What if there isn't?" Link inquired. "Does that mean we'll be stuck here forever and ever?"

"Highly doubtful." Joey said wryly. "We'll die sooner or later."

"Way to instill hope in others, Joey." Katara rolled her eyes.

"What?" Joey defended. "It's true… Anyways… Is anyone else freaked out by the dragon statue over there?"

"I think it's cool." Kaori chimed.

"It's pretty…" Link trailed off.

"You two really are a match made in heaven." Aya turned.

"Uh…" Kaori, too, trailed off, pink streaking her cheeks.

"Are those bomb flowers over there?" Joey pointed, changing the subject again.

"Yes, they are." Kurama nodded his head.

"Can I blow them up?" Link cocked his head.

"Actually, that might help." Kurama stared. "If you use a Fire Arrow to light the fuse, then it can blow up the foundation of the statue."

"And that would?" Joey just quirked an eyebrow.

"It would cause the statue to fall over, thus creating a bridge so we can get to the other side." Kurama said simply. "And Link has to do it this time."

"Why?" Link turned.

"Because, as of right now, Kaori is out of commission." Kurama explained.

"Oh…." Link stared, as if he spaced out for a second. "Oh! The bombs!" Link pulled out a Fire Arrow and, after a few tries, hit the fuse of one of the bomb flowers. There was a pattern then as the rest blew up and caused the statue's foundation to explode. The statue came crashing down, causing a loud rumble and the ground to shake, and formed a rather unstable bride to cross.

"There's something about crossing this thing that makes me uneasy." Katara quipped.

"Well, considering that one false move and we're dead." Aya added.

"Good point." Katara had a hand on her head. "Joey, you go first."

"Why me? It was Kurama's idea!" Joey defended, with a hand melodramatically in the air.

"Just go, doofus." Katara glared.

"Someone go." Aya jumped in.

"What?" Link had spaced off again. "Wait, awesome!" Link ran across the statue-bridge, slipping and nearly falling off. Though, after waving his arms frantically in the air, he tripped onto the next surface.

"I was hoping he wouldn't have fallen." Kaori stated.

"Yeah, we need him now that you're out of commission, and he has Navi." Aya smiled.

"Now, you go Joey." Katara said firmly.

"Why?" Joey said in a whiny voice.

"Go!" Katara seemed rather frustrated.

"Will one of you go?" Kurama intervened.

"…" Joey huffed, defeated, and inched across the bridge. After that, Kurama and the girls made their way across.

"Why is it darker here than the rest of the temple?" Link asked randomly after a silence.

"Because we're close to the boss room." Kurama stated in a somewhat annoyingly nonchalant manner.

"Huh? We are?" Link turned to the redhead.

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"The boss door is over there." Kurama pointed a finger to the large, gold-chained door across a large gap.

"Oh…" Link cocked his head, utter amazed for some odd reason.

"How do we get across?" Joey asked. "I don't think the Hover Boots could get us that far."

"No, they couldn't." Kurama agreed as he pulled out the Lens of Truth. Looking through it he lifted a hand. "There's a path that leads to the door.

"Go figure." Aya sighed.

"I guess just follow me and keep Link from falling off." Kurama turned to Joey.

"Seems like a plan to me." Joey shrugged.

"What?" Link turned around again, as he was fascinated by spots of old blood on the wall.

"Come on, Link." Kaori grabbed his arm and set off in following the rest across the gap.

"Yay! I'm walking on nothing. How cool is that?" Link was off in Link-land again.

"Fantastic, Link." Kaori laughed a bit. The group made it (surprisingly with Link not falling off…or Joey.)

"You're the one with the Boss Key, Link." Kurama pointed out, putting the Lens of Truth in his pocket.

"Oh…" Link tried to remember. "Oh yeah!!" Link pulled out the key and unlocked the door, the chains disappearing.

"So, how ugly or weird do you think this thing will be?" Joey turned to the group before opening the door.

"How ugly and weird was the rest of the temple?" Aya questioned back.

"Eew." Joey said simply before the group entered the room. When the heroes entered the room they fell through and landed on a platform floating in a pool of green, steaming acid. There was an eerie silence, until a voice broke them out of it.

"…What? You all?" the voice was familiar and the heroes turned to find themselves facing Impa, the Sheikah they were looking for.

"Impa!" Link cheered.

"We were worried." Aya said. They took a deeper inspection of the Princess's guardian. She was a bit torn up, blood dripping down her shoulder and several bruises here and there. She held her curved-edge sword tightly in one hand.

"I had no doubt in the Princess's words that you'd all would come back." A softer look took Impa's face. "But now isn't the time for catching up, I see. You'll have to catch me up later. As of now, we've got a problem."

"I see." Kurama nodded.

"I see a couple of you took a bite from the Gibdo's venomous one." Impa guessed. "What happened to that fairy that was with you then?"

"She's can't help us because of the effects of the temple. She's asleep right now." Kurama explained.

"Oh yes, creatures of light." Impa nodded. A sudden lurch in the ground snapped everyone out of it. The platform rumbled over and over again, until the group managed to turn around and see a large…monster banging over and over on the platform like a drum. It was large, grey and carcass-like. The hands were strong, but bony looking. It was rather disturbing looking, actually.

"Bongo-Bongo." Impa stated. "This is the shadow over Kakariko. It's difficult to fight, but since I don't have the Lens of Truth, I've been stalling it more than anything else."

"Well…" Kurama was looking through the Lens of Truth now. "There's a red eye if that helps anyone."

"That's useful." Aya had her sword out, as did everyone else and there weapons. Kaori just stood behind, kind of frustrated that she could help.

"Well, our first priority should be stopping those hands!" Katara said. "We can't do anything until those are down."

"…" Impa pulled out a couple of kunai-style throwing needles and threw them at the hands, stunning them. "Try hitting its eye then." Kurama tossed the Lens of Truth to Link, who caught it (almost dropping it) and looked through it. Quickly, he drew his bow and managed to hit it just before the hands regained feeling. Joey and Aya ran forward, slashing Bongo-Bongo when it was stunned.

"With your help, we should be able defeat it." Impa stated, readying her blade. "But you, Link, have to be in charge of stunning it when the time's appropriate."

"Why?" Link asked.

"Because if I'm guessing right, your girlfriend's an archer, but she can't use her bow because of the Gibdo's venom, thus, you're the unofficial archer as of now."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Joey said sarcastically, holding his arm. "I got knocked down by this thing's pounding, so my left arm's hurting."

"We'd best hurry, then." Kurama formed his sword.

"Alright then!!!" Link cheered, and shot the hands (after a couple tries), and then looked through the Lens of Truth, and then shot the eye after. Katara launched an ice attack from her spot, but Kurama and Impa ran forward, both at formidable speeds, and slashed the body of the boss. After feeling was regained, it surged up with great energy and both Impa and Kurama took a hit.

"Ow." Kurama held his head, somewhat dazed for a second.

"This is what I've dealt with for the last few hours." Impa stated, holding her side.

"Sounds like an ass-load of fun for you." Joey commented.

"It was rather delightful." Impa said in a calm, dry tone, before turning to Link, whose bow was ready.

"Tell me when to hit it next Impa!" Link called. Kaori stood behind him, her free hand on his shoulder. It appeared she was giving him pointers. "Kaori's helping!"

"You need help, anyway." Impa called. "You're aim is a bit off."

"That's why I'm helping. He needs to get this stuff on the first try." Kaori explained.

"Thank you very much, Kaori." Aya called.  
"Now!" Impa instructed as Bongo-Bongo was about to slam down in another fit.

"Got it!" Link shot of two arrows, both hitting the hands (though a little off, but at least they got there.) There was no cue, and the kids ran forward, so Impa could regain her breath, as she herself was a bit on the weak side at the moment. The monster screeched and went back pounding the platform.

"Eek!" Kaori shrieked a bit. They turned to see that Link was half-hanging off the platform with Kaori in his grasp, seeing as she, too, was falling off.

"Shit." Joey ran forward to help the two. He got Kaori up first, but Link hung on for dear life.

"I don't want to die yet!" Link whined.  
"You are not going to die yet, you moron." Joey cursed and barely pulled up the Hero of Time without falling off himself. Aya, Kurama, Impa, and Katara were continuing to fight Bongo-Bongo while this went on, Impa using her kunai needles as a second-best weapon to stun the monster with.

"Is everyone okay?" Aya turned, on her knees as she was knocked down by Bongo-Bongo's incessant pounding.

"Yeah, we're fine!" Link lifted a hand with Joey.

"No one died." Kaori confirmed.

"It's good. Who fell off first?" Katara entered the conversation.

"I did, but Link grabbed me, and fell off himself." Kaori sighed.

"Eh, he saved you. You can't hang on that well being one-armed at the moment." Aya said.

"I know." Kaori said.

"Link, we need your help!" Impa turned.

"Oh, yeah." Link stood up and readied his bow. Kaori stood behind him, whispering more pointers. Link shot off two arrows at the hands again, and stunned them before hitting the eye. There was a joint attack from everyone and finally, it died.

"Thank Nayru." Impa said, falling to one knee, worn out.

"You okay, Impa?" Aya questioned.

"Just worn out is all." Impa smiled. "Actually, I feel some strength returning, even now."

"That was a total pain in the ass to fight." Aya said.

"Very much so." Kurama agreed.

"Ignoring such issues of the battle, let me ask you how you all are now?" Impa smiled. "If I've heard correctly, such kids as you were, you are now the Hero of Time and the Spirits: our heroes of Hyrule."

"That's what people have been calling us." Joey shrugged.

"Wonderful titles, and fitting for you." Impa nodded, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Thank you for helping me." She smiled before she suddenly disappeared.

"Holy crap, she just vanished!" Link screamed. "It's those goddess-forsaken cow demons! Nooooooo!"

"Didn't Sheik say she was a Sage?" Katara turned to Kurama.

"Yes." Kurama responded, hands in his pockets.

"So, would she have gone to the Chamber of Sages?" Aya added.

"Most likely."

"Link! Calm down!" Joey grabbed the Hero of Time from his fit of maniacal laughter and rambling. "Let's go through the blue portal."

"The pretty one?" Link responded.

"Yes, the pretty one. You'll see Impa again." Joey nodded. The group stepped through the portal and found themselves in the Chamber of Sages, again.

"Sorry about that, everyone." Impa, now fully healed, stood on the purple platform across from theirs. "I had to leave for a minute."

"It's okay. But I did think the cow demons had you for a second." Link lifted a hand.

"The cow demons?" Impa turned to the others for an answer.

"Don't ask us, we haven't a clue." Kurama shook his head.

"He's our friend but we have no idea how his mind works." Aya concluded.

"Well, anyway." Impa started. "I thank you again, as without you; I wouldn't have been able to deal with Bongo-Bongo. I wouldn't have awakened as the Sage of Shadow."

"It's no problem." Katara smiled.

"It's our job." Joey joked.

"Yes." Impa laughed a bit.

"I've got a question." Joey started. "What happened to the Princess?"

"Oh…" Impa trailed off for a second. "She's fine, I reassure you. She's not dead. She's…hiding right now. But the time will come soon for you to see her again. She's awaited your arrival to help Hyrule for years."

"She's one optimistic princess, isn't she?" Katara turned. "What would have happened if we hadn't come back?"

"That's an excellent question, but one I wish not to ponder." Impa smiled. "Listen, you all didn't get through the temple well, did you?"

"No." they all said in unison.

"You should have heard how many times we said we hated it." Joey rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm studying you, and I see that the ones who have the biggest problem are Kaori and Kurama, the two bitten by the Gibdos." She eyed Kurama's injury. "But it's bugging me that you can still move your arms even after your bite. Either it takes forever to set in…or…"

"What? Is he immune to it or something?" Joey asked.

"It could very well be. If what I read about the Spirits are correct…." She trailed off again. "Hm…Never mind, I'm sure when your fairy wakes up, she can explain what she knows. It could be possible that the poison has no effect on you. But whatever."

"It depends, I suppose." Kurama smiled.

"Anyway, since your fairy calls the healing fairies, and she can't do that, you're in a bit of a gap right now." Impa nodded. "Well, to save you the trouble, I can help. I'm on good terms with the Potion Shop keeper, the one that migrated from Hyrule Castle Town, and he owes me a favor or two. If you go to him in the village, and tell him that I sent you and that you need help, he should give you what you need for free. He has everything connected to healing, including a remedy for healing Gibdo bites."

"Thanks." Everyone said.

"Now then, with that settled, it's time to add my power to yours." Impa said, putting out her hand. A purple orb formed into a medallion of the same color, which floated over to Link. "Take this. And good luck. You have but one Sage left to find, but you might find that the Spirit may be the hardest one to get."

"That sounds fun." Joey sighed.

"Anyways, good luck then!" Impa called as the group disappeared. Once the warp cleared, they found themselves on the balcony above the Graveyard.

"Let's get out of the Graveyard quickly. Maybe then, Navi will wake up." Kurama explained. The group hopped down and ran out through the passages and into the village itself, where they all sat on a stairway below the Windmill.

"Navi…" Link held the fairy in his hands. Though her glow was brighter, she still hadn't waked up. "Navi…"

"Ow…" finally Navi spoke. "

"Navi!" they all said in unison.

"You all missed me that much?" Navi said, sitting up in Link's hands.

"Actually, we were all worried." Kaori piped.

"Well…" Navi seemed happy they were worried. "By the looks of it, you all took a beating and completed the temple?"

"Yes. But it sucked." Joey whined.

"The Shadow Temple just generally sucks." Navi agreed. "Did you all have run-ins with the Gibdos? I went out before I could tell you about that."

"Kaori and I were bitten." Kurama explained. "But her effects are worse, since she can't move her arm.

"Hm." Navi sighed, but eyed the redhead.

"Well, Impa told us to go the Potion Shop keeper, and get some help there." Aya added.

"The Potion Shop should have some remedies for poison." Navi nodded. "After that we can rest and explain stuff, I suppose."

"Well, stuff I discovered about the Spirits in a conversation with Sheik one time." Navi explained.

"When?" Aya looked a bit surprised.

"I talked to him one time when you all were asleep and we camped out for the evening." Navi put it simply, now sitting on her usual place on Link's head, signaling she was fine again.

"Whatever." Aya shrugged. With that said, the group set off for the Potion Shop…

**A/n: **There's the Shadow Temple ending. You see, the Shadow Temple was short, three sections, and, in the game, was it really that exciting?

The next chapter will be healing, explaining, and setting off again!


	37. The Fortress of Thieves Part 1

**A/n: **Well, here's the second chapter of the update…If I focus enough before my mom gets home and makes dinner, I could get three chapters in this update!

**Disclaimer: **Let's use our common sense people…

**Chapter 37: The Fortress of Thieves Part 1**

"I don't think, in all this time we've been adults that I've ever been to the Potion Shop." Katara mused. The group, still somewhat tired from their escapades in the Shadow Temple, was standing outside the quaint, small shop.

"What did Impa tell you to say exactly?" Navi questioned, looking down at Link.  
"To walk in and go 'dude' and he'll be like 'dude, what's up' and I'll be like 'shit' and he'll be like 'cool'." Link rambled.

"What did she tell you again?" She looked to the others, hoping for a straight answer.

"She told us to tell the keeper that Impa sent us. Something about how he owes her a couple favors." Kurama explained. They opened the door, and walked into the shop. At the moment, the shop was empty, and the keeper, a tall, slender young man was at the counter, slumped over in a chair, reading a book. He looked utterly bored.

"Um…" Kaori whispered.

"Hey, sir!" Joey broke the keeper from his daydream/book reading. He looked up at the group, somewhat surprised to see customers, and hopped out of his chair. He put his hands on the counter, and smiled at the group.

"Customers!" the shopkeeper smiled. "It's not often I get some nowadays. With the old hag making strange new double-healing potions, or whatever she makes, across the village, I don't get much business. It was much better when the Castle Town was still standing."

"I don't want to know who the old hag is." Katara stated.

"She's a rather strange lady…" the shopkeeper spaced off for a second. "For anything, she's off her rocket with all the concoctions she's making up."

"Well, it's nice to see we didn't get sent to her." Aya rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, excuse the frequent changes of subject." The shopkeeper rubbed the back of his neck somewhat nervously. "Tell me, what can I help you with? By the looks of it, you guys have seen better days."

"We have." Joey nodded.

"Impa sent us." Kurama explained. "We're friends of hers, and she said if we come here, you could help us."

"Impa sent you, did she?" the shopkeeper laughed. "I owe her one for helping me get set up her and healing from the injuries I received after my shop at the Castle Town was burnt down."

"I see, that's what she meant by you owe her." Katara shrugged.

"So I'm to repay her by helping you?" the shopkeeper smiled a bit. "No problem, I'll help you all at no charge whatsoever. I'm using the favor I owe Impa as your charge."

"That helps us a lot." Aya said.

"I'm sure it does. What do you all need?" the shopkeeper turned towards the shelves behind his counter.

"First," Kurama turned to the others. "Wouldn't we need fairies to heal our initial wounds?"

"I'd vote the fairies." Navi nodded. "One or two would be enough to heal the bruises and cuts you all received."

"So, two fairies?" the shopkeeper grabbed a couple of clear, glass jars with two pink fairies in them.

"Yes." Kurama nodded.

"Oh, and one more thing that we need." Navi jumped in. "You're supposed to have a remedy or potion or whatever that heals the effects of a Gibdo bite, right?"

"Gibdo bite?" the shopkeeper seemed stunned. "It's rare, if ever, that I get asked to make that potion. It's not often that people get bitten by them. Where did you all come from anyway, to have gotten attacked by Gibdos?"

"Well, we're travelers!" Link cheered. "And we just came from that dead place in the Graveyard!"

"The dead place?" The shopkeeper lifted an eyebrow.

"We just came from the Shadow Temple, but don't ask why." Navi sighed. "Excuse him also. He sucks at dealing with strangers."

"The Shadow Temple?" The shopkeeper seemed interested. "Hm. That explains that then. Last time Impa came in here, she bought a couple of healing potions because she was heading off for the Shadow Temple."

"Impa must trust you to tell you that." Navi said, now staring as the shopkeeper placed the fairy bottles on the counter and wander around gathering random items.

"Let's just say that I know her kinda well." The shopkeeper stated. "She was always coming in and helping me and buying potions when I first took this job over. So, she kinda got around to filling me in on stuff. I also always had to go to the Castle and deliver potions for the guards to use. I always ended up hearing stuff that I wasn't supposed to." The shopkeeper placed a bunch of random items on a table behind the counter and started to mess with them, mixing stuff up.

"Understandable." Joey said.

"I guess." Navi sighed.

"Sorry, I'm rambling again." The shopkeeper turned. "How many of these Gibdo potions do you need?"

"One." Navi answered. "We only need one. For her."

"Oh, so one for the lady in purple?" the shopkeeper smiled and started mixing more things up. After a few minutes, he had something made up and in a glass. He set in on the counter. "It's easier to drink it from a glass than from a jar. It's cleaner, especially for a lady."

"Um, thanks." Kaori smiled and took the glass. She swallowed down the potion, and, after a minute, the bite cleared and she could move her arm again.

"Now, for the fairies." Joey grabbed the jars and freed the fairies. They sparkled and flew around the group, and their wounds were healed.

"Now, that is better." Katara said.

"I feel better now!" Link cheered enthusiastically.

"Nice to know I could help." the shopkeeper said. "Listen, you all is travelers… Meaning, by the looks of it, you guys get beaten up all the time. Whenever you need potions, fairies, milk, etc. or just basic first aid, come to me, okay? I'll help you at no charge at all."

"Really?" Link stared in amazement.

"Sure. Impa's friends are my friends too right?" the shopkeeper winked. "I won't charge you. Just come to me whenever you need to. If you need help, actually, with anything, I could give you an answer. Hanging with Impa has taught me a lot about legends and stuff."

"Thanks, dude." Joey lifted a hand. "We'll keep that in mind."

"Thanks!" Link smiled.

"Very appreciated." Kurama lifted a hand as well.

"Come back!" the shopkeeper waved as the group exited the shop. Once outside, Navi suggested something else.

"It's late in the day." The fairy said. "Let's just get our inn rooms and we'll talk."

"Sounds like a plan." Joey nodded. "I'm bushed after that temple."

"We're all worn out." Kurama said. They went to the inn, got their rooms, and all six gathered in the boys' inn room.

"So, question Navi." Joey raised his hand. "How often do you talk to Sheik?"

"Only a few times… The only time I got the information I needed out of him was the time I caught him when we camped out, like I said." Navi explained.

"So, what did you get out of him?" Aya asked.

"Well, up until now, the Spirits are virtually a mystery, right?" Navi said as they nodded. "All I knew, and you knew, were the elements and their duty to Hyrule. I got more out of him. He finally realized I needed it after the events of the Water Temple."

"Oh." Katara trailed off.

"Anyway, here's some info on the Spirits…" Navi trailed off for a minute. "Each of the Spirits has…ability, if you will."

"What abilities?" Kaori chirped.

"Well, let's start with Kurama." Navi said. "Has anyone gone off to ponder why the poison from the Gibdo's bite didn't affect him?"

"Well…no…" Aya had a hand to her chin. "I was wondering why, though."

"It would be nice to know." Kurama pointed out.

"From what Sheik said, the Spirit of Earth's ability, or, as I'll call it 'Special Feature' is that he's totally and completely immune all kinds of poisons."

"Meaning that no matter what it is or how lethal it is, I won't be affected by it?" Kurama lifted an eyebrow.

"Yep." Navi said. "Exactly. We've seen Joey's on several occasions."

"We've seen Joey's what on what occasion?" Joey was confused. (Also, at the current moment, Kaori was elbowing Link to keep his focus, as well.)

"I thought it was obvious, Joey." Navi sighed. "You are immune to heat and burns."

"Oh, that." Joey understood now.

"Kaori's ability may seem little, but it actually comes in handy." Navi started. "Kaori isn't hindered by strong storms or winds, since she technically creates them. You can't be affected by this stuff. Meaning, it's as if you feel nothing at all. I mean, you can feel breezes and stuff, but strong winds that hinder normal humans can hurt you."

"That sounds useful." Kaori cocked her head. "So, while strong winds are knocking down others I can walk through them like it was only just a breeze?"

"Pretty much." Navi nodded. "It will be more useful than it sounds, believe me. Aya, your ability will also come in handy."

"What's mine?" Aya turned.

"You, being the Spirit of Light, can't be corrupted by any evil, no matter who or what. In short, you can't ever be possessed or affected by dark influences."

"Hot damn, I'm immune to possession." Aya snapped, apparently satisfied.

"And you, Katara, have demonstrated yours." Navi pointed out. "You can be affected by cold or drowning. You can't drown, as you're demonstrated, and you can't be affected by the cold."

"Sounds awesome to me." Katara nodded.

"What about me?" Link said innocently.

"Sheik wouldn't go into the Hero of Time, other than to realize that, he has to master the full power of the Master Sword." Navi sighed again.

"Okay." Link seemed satisfied with that answer.

"I'm curious about one other thing." Joey lifted a hand. "What about the summon-mermaid thing that Katara used in the Water Temple? Do we have summons like that too?"

"Yes, but it's something about unlocking it first. I'm assuming it'll come naturally to you, like it did for her." Navi explained.

"Well, that was fantastic information, but I'm worn out." Joey leaned back on his bed. Link was already conked out, face down on his bed.

"We'll retreat to our room, then." Katara lifted her hand, and went off to the girls' inn room with the other two.

_In the girls' room, later that night…_

"I can't sleep, and I know you two are awake, too." Katara stated, turning to the other two's bed. Kaori was facing her direction, and Aya had sat up in her bed, like Katara.

"My mind is preoccupied." Aya said.

"Is it the conversation with Navi today?" Kaori asked.

"Yeah, what about you two?" Aya turned her head.

"Same here." Katara sighed.

"Yep." Kaori sat up, finally.

"There's something about the fact that we have one more Sage left to find that bugs me." Aya said. "What happens when we get to our final battle with Ganondorf?"

"What do you mean?" Kaori gave a quizzical glance.

"Well, first off, what happens to us Spirits?" Aya asked. "I mean, we're supposed to guard the Sacred Realm, and that's going be even harder since the Sages are there."

"Oh." Kaori stopped.

"Yeah, oh…" Katara nodded. "I'm curious. Didn't the Deku Sprout, after the Forest Temple, tell us that the previous generation of Spirits died protecting the Sacred Realm?"

"Yeah." Kaori stopped again. "That worry is popping up in my head again. Will we die protecting it too?"

"I guess there is always the possibility…" Aya trailed off. "I mean…It is possible we'll die… but what happens then?"

"I'm not sure." Katara said and a silence followed.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see." Kaori turned.

"It's just a bit more than just a back thought nowadays." Aya smiled a bit.

"Well, it's hard to ponder. I mean, we're technically saving a world that we aren't from." Katara lifted a hand. "For some reason, I feel like I'm part of this world now, though. I guess I want to save it."

"Same here, I feel like I've known you all for all my life." Kaori smiled.

"So, we should put aside the thoughts of impeding death and go to sleep." Aya said. "Aren't we moving on tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Katara slumped back down on her bed. With that, the three girls went to sleep.

_The next morning…_

"I see you're awake early as usual." Navi said to Kurama, who was currently slipping on his jacket again. He usually awoke twenty minutes or so before Navi, so she usually expected to see him awake.

"Yes." Kurama turned. "And, if I may ask, where do we head off to today?"

"We'll figure that out once we get everyone awake. I hear the girls stirring in the next room, so it's a matter of getting these idiots awake."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Kurama lifted a hand. "It's usually your job to do that."

"Yeah, I've got it handled." Navi performed her usual: yelling loudly in their ears and both sprung up in their bed. Also, as expected, Joey hit his head on the baseboard and Link fell out of his.

"Good morning." Kurama said somewhat sarcastically.

"Ow, damn!" Joey rubbed his head as he tripped out of bed.

"Ow…" Link was dazed on the floor. "Parrots in glass slippers find the…princess…"

"I love his morning rambles." Joey smirked, slipping into the black jacket as he stared at the Hero of Time. After a second more, Link regained his composure (if that was the right word) and stumbled around. After putting on his boots and belts, he was ready, saluting in a goofy manner.

"Dude, question." Joey placed a hand on the shorter blonds shoulder. "Why are you saluting?"

"Uh…" Link put a hand to his chin in thought. "I don't…know."

"Figured." Joey shrugged. "Whatever floats that little boat of yours, Link?"

"Well, that was an interesting moment." Navi sat on Link's head. "Your morning antics, boys, amuses me greatly."

"They do?" Link looked up.

"Yes, you all are entertaining." Navi said. "Now, lets go see if the girls are ready." The boys left the room and waited in the hall (though Kurama had to keep Joey from "peeping" at them getting dressed.)

"Good morning, all." Aya waved.

"Hi!" Kaori smiled.

"Good morning." Katara nodded.

"Well, you're lucky, because Joey wanted to spy on you.

"You wanted to do what?" Katara glared daggers at the Spirit of Fire.

"I was joking!" Joey waved innocently, but yelped when the angered Spirit of Water stepped on his foot. Aya shook her head, complying with the fact that Katara had handled it, and Kaori just seemed freaked out.

"Let's just go now." Kurama shook his head and they left the inn, and village, sitting outside by the tree. While eating their breakfast consisting of food from supplies, they discussed their next actions.

"Where do we go next?" Joey said between stuff rolls in his mouth. Crumbs fell to the ground below him as he ate.

"Well, the only place we haven't been too at all is the desert." Navi stated.

"The desert?" Kaori chirped.

"Yeah." Navi said.

"Makes sense then, because wasn't the last clue something along the lines of 'inside the Goddess of the Sand'?" Kurama looked at the fairy.

"Yeah, and the only place I know with anything like it is the desert." Navi nodded.

"Oh, isn't the desert where Ganondorf came from?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, but he isn't there, to our luck." Navi said. "But, even then, the desert isn't the friendliest place in the word. But we'll worry about it when we get there." The group finished up and summoned their horses. With that, they set off across Hyrule Field.

"Since you're leading the way, Navi…You are leading us in the right direction?" Joey asked.

"Would I be a good fairy guide if I did that?" Navi responded sarcastically. "Duh, moron, I'm leading you to the desert!"

"Trust her." Katara glared.

"What, I was only being careful!" Joey whined, defeated.

"Whatever." Katara rolled her eyes playfully.

"Is the desert hot?" Link turned, with an honest confusion in his eyes.

"Duh." Navi said simply.

"Have you ever even heard of a desert, Link?" Kaori asked.

"Uh…Not until a couple of hours ago when Navi said it." Link was still confused. "But not like it was ever really hot in the forest now that I think about it."

"Eh, we don't hold it against you buddy." Joey said.

"Cool…So is it hot or what?" Link wanted to know.

"When I said 'duh' I meant, 'yes, it's hot'." Navi explained.

"Oh…" Link's fragile attention span lost.

"We lost him." Navi announced as the group went on.

"Don't we usually on these kinds of journeys from one area to the next?" Joey turned.

"As long as he focuses when we've got trouble." Navi said. After a few hours, the group came to a ridge. The temperature had gone up a bit, and the environment, as expected, had changed drastically from what they were used to.

"It's pretty…" Link trailed off as they went through the ridge. The travelers came to a bridge…or lack thereof.

"Where's the bridge?" Joey asked.

"It was cut." Kurama concluded, gesturing to the broken pieces hanging down on the other side.

"That sucks." Aya said.

"So how do we get across?" Kaori asked.

"Jump?" Aya shrugged.

"Something like it, since we can't fly across." Kurama added.

"Come on horsie!!" Link cheered and backed Epona up before running forward at a fast pace and leaping across the gap.

"That works." Kurama smiled.

"At least he figured something out on his own without getting distracted." Navi said. One-by-one, the group made it across. The dismounted their horses and looked around. It seems there wasn't anything big around yet. What they did see was a large, white tent pitched towards the end of the canyons. Standing outside of it was a large, tall, muscular man with a white mustache and a bald head, his arms crossed, mumbling in frustration to himself.

"So…Question of the day: who's that?" Joey turned.

"Uh…We can ask?" Navi suggested.

"Great idea!" Link cheered and ran over to the man. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" the man countered.

"But I asked first." Link whined.

"Well, son, I'm older." The man concluded.

"Good point." Link had a finger in the air.

"Excuse him." Navi sat on Link's head and apologized. "He's normally this random, you just get used to it." The man stared at the kids.

"No issue. Who are you all?" The man asked and they introduced themselves. "I'm a Head Carpenter. My crew and I came here to fix this bridge, but those idiot workers of mine went off in the direction of the fortress. The dopes said something about how being a carpenter was lame, and being a thief was cooler. Morons."

"What thieves and fortress?" Joey questioned.

"The Gerudos." Navi stated simply. "They're a race of completely females, and their ruler is a man who's born to them every hundred years. Ganondorf is their ruler now."

"And you were going to explain this to us…when?" Joey looked up at the fairy, eye twitching.

"When we got here!" Navi shot back.

"Yeah…" the Head Carpenter sighed. "That was yesterday. I haven't seen them since. Knowing those idiots, they could be dead…Whatever, but I still need them back."

"Are we headed towards the fortress?" Kurama turned to Navi.

"I suppose we are since we need to go past it to find the Spirit Temple." Navi responded, slumping over on Link's shoulders.

"Hey, kids." The Head Carpenter stopped them before they went on. "If you are going to the fortress, can you go and find my men and see what the hell they're doing over there?"

"No problem! We're super heroes!" Link cheered and ran forward past another ridge.

"Oh shit." Navi said.

"What?" Kurama turned.

"Just go get him!" Navi flew after him. The rest followed too, waving to the Head Carpenter before leaving. Once they got there, they couldn't see Link, but they saw a huge building. It was carved into the mountain. It was mesa-like and there were several entrances and stairways that connected the building together. It was rather sturdy-looking and well crafted, probably all by women no doubt.

"Ah!!" Link's scream echoed and the rest ran in to find him. They saw him hunched over on the ground with a surprised look on his face and several spears in his face. "Help…" Link barely squeaked.

"Uh." Joey was…lost.

"You stop!" they finally noticed the ones with the spears. Beautiful, red-haired women with tan skin were holding long, sharp spears in their hands. They wore purple, Arabian style pants and shoes, with a belly-top of the same material, and a veil over their mouths. All-in-all, they looked rather unpleasant.

"Uh…We stopped." Joey lifted a hand, and squeaked when a spear was thrust towards his chest and stopped inches away from impaling him. "…eek…"

"Comply and we will not kill you!" one of the guards hissed. What was a bit more shocking is that the girls, Kaori, Aya and Katara, were not even looked at as suspicious. The guys were all the ones with spears in their faces and chests. "You all are arrested."

"What about us?" Katara finally asked.

"You?" the guard let out a chuckle. "We have no need to arrest women. It's mean that we have little use or respect for. As long as you cause no trouble, you are free to go about your business."

"Hey, dudes, that's sexist!" Joey said, but squeaked to halt when the spear blade was touching his chest now.

"Shutting up would be the best choice right now, Joey." Kurama warned. He was calm about it all, and turned his green eyes towards the Spirit of Fire in a "shut-up-now-is-not-the-time" look.

"Take them off!" the guards ordered and in minutes, the boys were gone.

"Uh…"Aya stood there, kind of dumbfounded. "What?"

"That was weird." Kaori said.

"I told you that the Gerudos are an all-female race?" Navi turned. "Well, they have little-to-none respect for men. The only use they have for on is for reproduction, if you catch my drift."

"Nice to know." Katara said wryly.

"Wonderful." Aya added.

"Well, anyway." Navi continued. "All women are pretty much welcomed, while on the flipside, men are immediately arrested. This female race is rather superior to men in many senses."

"That's nice." Kaori sighed. "So how do we get the boys back?"

"We have to get to the fortress." Navi said.

"But what happens when we go in?" Aya added.

"We have to sneak more than anything else." Navi said. "Otherwise, we won't get in. We don't want to get arrested too."

"Well at least we know what happened to the carpenters now." Katara shrugged.

"So our job is to get into the fortress and save the boys and the carpenters?" Aya turned to Navi.

"Yes." The fairy responded. "Carefully, no less. We have to stun the guards on the field first, and then we can enter at that far entrance right there."

"I see." Katara said. "How do we stun them?"

"It may sound homicidal, but really this isn't." Navi started. "If you hit them at a pressure point with, say, an arrow, you can knock them out for at least fifteen minutes."

"Hit them with my arrows?" Kaori turned, surprised. "I won't kill them?"

"They're wearing thin armor, whether you see it or not. So, it won't kill them, only hinder them." Navi reassured.

"Okay…" Kaori pulled out her bow and readied it.

_We're all curious… What happened to the boys?_

"I can't believe we were arrested because we're guys." Joey complained. "I mean, how sexist is that? If these were guys who kidnapped only the girls, they'd be called perverts."

"Customs are different in the desert, Joey." Kurama was calm in the corner. "If they're an all-female race, what else do you expect them to do to us?"

"I'm confused." Link had a hand on his head.

"Yeah, I know, but it still peeves me." Joey huffed and crossed his arms. "How do they live as all-females anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Kurama turned.

"Don't they…like, reproduce or something?" Joey lifted an eyebrow. "Don't they need men for that?"

"Yes, hypothetically thinking." Kurama sighed with a hand rubbing his head. Even when they were in jail, Joey was still a pervert.

"It's true! Is that the only respect they have for us?" Joey was on a roll, here.

"Reproduction?" Link questioned as if h was trying to remember its definition. "Oh, I remember now!"

"This royally sucks." Joey huffed again.

"We know Joey." Kurama said calmly. "But the girls have some form of an advantage, so they can handle our mission."

"Oh, finding the carpenters?" Link asked.

"Yes, that one." Kurama stated. "That is more important than finding us right now."

"Why is that?" Joey threw a hand in the air. "Shouldn't finding us be important?"

"I'm not saying it isn't important, Joey." Kurama seemed the slightest bit frustrated. "What I am saying is that we already told the Head Carpenter we'd find them, meaning that he'll be expecting his men soon. Therefore, finding the carpenters before they die is rather important."

"Oh." Joey sighed.

"We'll be fine, Joey. Don't lose your sanity yet."

**A/n: **There's the next chapter. The boys arrested? How dreadful. This is interesting, no?


	38. The Fortress of Thieves Part 2

**A/n: **And here we are with chapter number three of the update. I rock... Here we are with the Gerudo's fortress and stuff part 2!

**Disclaimer: **If you want to know, read the other 37 chapters' disclaimers.

**Chapter 38: The Fortress of Thieves Part 2**

The girls had successfully made it into the fortress, and had snuck around long enough to get somewhere. They were crouched behind a stack of crates, and peering carefully around the edge of it in fear of getting caught.

"So…What now?" Aya whispered.

"Don't get caught." Katara whispered back.

"That was the initial plan." Navi added.

"I think I see a guard coming." Kaori pointed out.

"Hit her then!" Aya declared.

"But I have to wait for her to turn her back." Kaori said, readying her bow. The guard turned and she let fly another arrow that knocked the guard out.

"This is getting to be a real pain. The boys and the carpenters owe us big time for this one." Katara twitched a bit. They dashed past the hall and into another empty room. Across the room they saw a cage with a large, rounded man dressed similarly to the Head Carpenter.

"Hey, well look at that." Navi said. "We found one."

"How convenient." Aya rolled her eyes and the girls ran to the front of the cage.

"What are pretty girls like you doing wandering around this place?" the carpenter asked.

"Rescuing you, that's what." Navi said, fluttering around.

"Rescuing?" the carpenter nodded. "You girls must have a lot of guts to wander in here and make it past the guards."

"We weren't really arrested in the first place, and we came in here initially because your boss told us to find you and that our friends were arrested." Aya explained.

"You're friends are guys?" the carpenter asked.

"Yes." Navi said.

"That makes sense then." The carpenter laughed a bit.

"Oh, and there's a Gerudo in the doorway." Navi looked down at the three girls.

"What?!" All three shrieked in unison and whirled around to see a tall, red haired Gerudo with two scimitars in her hands staring at them. Her hair was in a high ponytail, with Arabian style clothing similar to the normal guards, and she had a sheer, red veil over her mouth to match her red clothing.

"Intruders, I see." The woman smirked. "Intruders in the Fortress are always the ones who die." She held her scimitars out in a ready stance, as if she was going to strike. And she did. She ran forward at a formidable speed and slashed the girls. They all backed away. Kaori readied her bow, Aya pulled out her sword, and Katara had some ice shards levitating above her hand, ready. The woman was fast, but they managed to knock her out via teamwork. Katara had bombarded her with ice shards, Aya slashed sword-to-scimitar with her, and Kaori shot her in the shoulders with some arrows. After awhile, she was out.

"Hey, look." Navi floated around the knocked out woman's waist. "A key."

"How delightful." Aya grabbed the key and unlocked the door.

"Thanks, girls." The carpenter turned. "I'm getting out of here as soon as possible. There are three others you should have to find. We were the boss's crew." With that the man dashed off.

"That was brief." Katara turned.

"Better than nothing I suppose." Aya shrugged and the little group went forward.

_To the boys…_

"How long will we be here?" Link questioned. "I mean, will we die here?"

"Who knows?" Kurama said. "I guess it all depends on if the girls rescue us or not."

"Our fates are in their hands?" Joey lifted an eyebrow.

"Yes. But I don't find that as disturbing as you seem to." Kurama said.

"It's not disturbing, just weird." Joey lifted a hand. "Maybe I'm not used to it."

"All three are smart and Navi's with them." Kurama explained. "They'll do something."

"I trust Kaori." Link cheered.

"Now…" Joey trailed off. "What happens to us in the meantime?"

"What do you mean?" Link turned to the fellow blond.

"What I mean is do we sit here and rot or will they do something to us?" Joey quirked an eyebrow in a rather annoying manner, at least Kurama found it annoying since he knew what was going on.

"Huh?" Link was lost, as usual.

"Joey, just stop while you're ahead." Kurama said calmly, rolling his eyes at the Spirit of Fire.

_Back to the girls…_

"So…" Aya trailed off while they walked empty, labyrinth halls. "What do you think the boys are doing right now?"

"Either they're sitting in a dungeon…or…I don't know." Katara sighed. "Who knows?"

"Whatever is going on, I'm sure Joey's a pistol. He probably finds this as one big excuse to be a perverted idiot." Navi said.

"I can only imagine." Kaori sighed.

"He is a pervert, isn't he?" Katara laughed.

"And Link is a pervert sometimes without quite realizing it." Navi said. "But he's clueless, so it isn't his fault."

"I hear footsteps." Katara warned. The girls skittered over to a stack of crates and ducked behind it. Peering carefully, they saw two guards walking back and forth.

"This is annoying." Kaori muttered before shooting off a couple of arrows and knocking them down. The girls rushed past and found the next door to be an exit and it led to a lower roof overlooking the fields. Crouching down, they stared down at the guards and listened the footsteps above them.

"We're going to have to hop up and fight them face to face. It'll have to be a very quick, surprise attack though. But first, knock out all the guards on the field." Navi instructed. "Though, once I think about it, it'll cause chaos either way. But whatever."

"What do you mean?" Katara eyed the fairy.

"Because then the guards will wake up and realize they were surprise attacked. And we'll be sought after in the fortress."

"Whatever. As long as we find what we need." Aya said. Kaori knocked the field guards out before turning back. The three girls ran back and then forward and hopped up to the next platform.

"Now!" Navi called out.

"Intruders!" the guard scowled. Katara threw her hand forward and ice shards slashed the guard. Aya slashed her sword and collided with the handle of the spear before mustering her strength to break it. Kaori shot an arrow, and finally knocked her out.

"This is going to suck." Aya whispered as they ran in…

_A little while later, with the boys…_

"Have you heard?" the boys caught conversation between two of the dungeon guards. Curious, they continued to listen.

"What is it?" the other guard asked.

"We have intruders! Here in the fortress!"

"What?"

"Yes. A guard up on one of the outer levels said that a group consisting of three girls and a blue fairy attacked her! She said one threw ice at her…"

"Threw ice at her?"

"Yes! Oh, the other had a sword and broke her weapon and the other knocked her unconscious with an arrow! They were strange girls!"

"Why would women attack us?"

"I haven't an idea."

"This is curious. Something strange is afoot."  
"Oh, and one of our main guards was knocked out and on of our prisoners gone."

"Which one?"

"Some fat, carpenter guy that wandered in her yesterday with a bunch of others."

"One of them? How'd he escape? The strange girls and fairy?"

"Who else?"

"Well, I wonder who the strange girls and fairies are." Joey said.

"………." Link thought for a second. "Oh! Our girls and Navi!"

"Yes, you are a winner." Joey nodded.

"I figured as much." Kurama said. "It appears that at least they made it into the fortress."

"What happens if they're caught?" Joey turned.

"Either they'll be arrested or…I don't know." Kurama sighed. "I'm assuming intrusion and breaking a prisoner out can result in bad punishment. But we'll see."

_Back to our now famous girls…_

The girls were crouched this time behind humungous vases, and were waiting to move on and knock more guards out. They had made it farther in, but had heard later that the guard they attacked had reported it and now all guards were being advised to find the "strange girls and fairy".

"Strange girls and fairy?" Aya turned. "What kind of original name is that?"

"I don't know. It could be worse, I suppose." Navi said, fluttering.

"I guess." Katara said, watching with the rest for the other guards.

"Security is pretty tight now. There are, like, four guards in this hall." Kaori pointed out, her bow ready. She shot out four arrows when the guards were in time with each other as far as walking goes. They fell to the floor in unison.

"I still say the boys owe us…greatly owe us." Katara's eye twitched as they ran through a door. It was another open room with another carpenter.

"Hey!" the carpenter called. "Who are you all? Are you those girls I heard about?"

"Yes, most likely." Aya sighed loudly.

"So you're here to free me?" the carpenter seemed relieved.

"Yes." The all said in unison.

"So, you're the little intruders?" A voice behind them hissed. A woman dressed the same as the first main guard they fought grinned at them in the doorway. She had a hand on her hip and her scimitar in her other hand.

"Gee, just what I wanted: another guard." Aya said, pulling out her sword.

"You won't get past me so easily, little girls!" the woman ran forward and sliced Aya in the shoulder before turning around and getting Kaori in the knee. Katara managed to block but her left hand was sliced open too.

"Ow." Aya winced a bit, now annoyed.

"It seems they're going to get harder as we get the other carpenters." Navi said, fluttering around the three.

"Oh well." Katara formed a large amount of ice shards, running around and dodging another attack before throwing her hand forward. The guard got a full-frontal attack that left her somewhat dazed. Aya ran forward and clashed blades with her. After a minute of said clashing, Aya caught her off guard and slashed her torso region. Kaori shot off a couple of arrows that hit her leg. She ran forward again, towards Kaori, who threw up her bow in front of her to catch the attack. She did that, and Aya ran to her behind and slashed her back with Katara hit her with a water attack. She fell over, dazed.

"Hit her and knock her out, Kaori!" Navi called. Kaori complied and shot her with her arrows, knocking out cold. Aya grabbed the key from her waist and unlocked the cage door.

"Thanks so much!" the carpenter smiled. "This place is scary! You never know what will happen. It's strange."

"Can you manage to get out?" Katara asked. "We're not as close to the exit as we were at the last one."

"I think, I remember correctly, the brought me through the exit over here. Besides, with them trying to find you four, their focuses won't be on getting me!" the Carpenter nodded and ran off with other thanks before disappearing.

"Oh yeah…I forgot, we're famous." Aya rolled her eyes before they moved on to another hall.

"Yay." Katara twirled a finger as they now ran down corridors. After a minute, the ducked behind a corner and knocked a guard out before entering the next main room, closer to the last dungeon that expected. Though, a change was that the guard was waiting for them.

"Hm." The guard pulled out her scimitar and inspected them. "You all are our intruders, eh? Sure." The woman stepped forward, hand outstretched. "You not close to a threat. I don't know how you beat my comrades. Luck maybe?"

"Uh…That would work." Aya mused for a second.

"Shall we begin then?" the guard said, somewhat unfazed. "I have no use to launch forward, as you'll expect that."

"Sure." Katara readied herself with the others. The guard then ran forward and threw Katara into the wall, slashing her and giving her a bloody gash to the head. Katara was dazed for a couple of minutes but regained her composure and stood up.

"This is interesting, no?" the guard was chattier than the last, and smirked from her veil as she clashed swords with Aya. "It isn't often I see women other than my kind that use swords. Very interesting, I must say."

"Very interesting." Aya responded, sidestepping and throwing her sword around, getting a clean cut into her side.

"Ow." The guard stared at the blood. "Hm, impressive." Her eyes were wide for a second when she felt a stinging pain in her elbow. She looked down and pulled an arrow out, wincing as she did it.

"…" Kaori had her bow in front of her.

"…" Katara ran forward twirling around gracefully and launching forward her water-whip slashing the guard clean in the shoulder. The guard threw up her scimitar to block Aya, but was hindered again when Kaori shot two more arrows at her. Aya slashed forward, hitting the guard's hand. Katara just used her whip and took the final shot, knocking her out instead of Kaori.

"That was annoying." Aya sighed, unlocking the carpenter, who was practically in a fetal position, he was so scared.

"…I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I w-w-want to th-th-thank y-y-y-you…v-very m-much-ch…" the carpenter stuttered so much he was barely understandable. "I-I-I-I will…g-g-go n-n-n-now…" The guard ran off in a terrified daze.

"I feel almost sorry for that guy." Navi said, turning down.

"Well, he was barely audible he was stuttering so much." Aya said, brushing her skirt off.

"Yeah." Kaori sighed. "I'm getting tired, though. This is kind of hard, now that we're into it."

"Well, we're trying to find our friends and a bunch of carpenters while avoiding guards, fighting more guards, and trying to avoid capture because we're 'strange girls and a fairy'." Navi explained in her sarcastic manner.

"Good point there." Kaori nodded and they ran down another hall. After knocking more guards out and running past another room, they made it to their final carpenter, who was in the corner of his cage, scared to speak, as the guard they were going to face was standing there, scimitar in hand, and a devious smirk on her face. Without as much of a chance to react, she ran forward and stabbed Kaori in the hand. Kaori squealed a bit, and stared at the blood pouring from her right hand.

"You okay?" Aya had her sword ready.

"I'm fine!" Kaori lifted her left hand. "It only…stings a bit."

"Alright…" Aya clashed with guard while Katara readied her spells. Slashing the guard with another sidestep, the guard back up and was hit by Katara's ice spell. She stumbled to her knees, before getting back up, a determined and somewhat unfazed look still on her face. She slashed Aya, catching her in the arm, and turned towards Katara who she ran towards. Katara dodged, barely, and threw forward her water whip.

"She hasn't said a word." Navi said,

"I know." Aya clashed again with the guard.

"That's weird." Navi shrugged. Aya, this time, cast a spell that hit the guard and hindered her long enough for Kaori to hit her in the side with an arrow. The guard growled at all three of them. She quickly jumped in the air and slashed Kaori again in the arm before running back towards Katara, but clashing with Aya again. Aya got into a block-dodge match with the guard for awhile before casting another spell. Kaori shot an arrow at the guard, hitting her scimitar hand. The guard dropped her scimitar on the ground and Katara knocked her down with her ice attack. She was unconscious on the ground now. Grabbing the keys, the girls unlocked the carpenter. He was silent, probably from shock, nodded reassuringly and muttered 'thanks' before running out of the room.

"Let's get out of here before she wakes up." Navi said and they ran off.

_To the boys…_

"Did you hear?" The boys caught their guards' conversation, again.

"Hear what?"

"The four prisoners! Those loser carpenters we captured yesterday are gone! All four! Our last main guard was defeated fifteen minutes ago!"

"She was?"

"Yes! And the intruders are still wandering around!"

"That's…amazing. How did that happen?"

"We don't know!"

"Weird…"

"So…Our girls succeeded in getting the carpenters out." Joey said to himself, now that the guards' conversation ended.

"It appears so." Kurama smiled. "Now, if I guess right, they should be here shortly."

"I hate it when you're right." Joey sighed. "Maybe because I hate being wrong…and that's why I fight with Katara so much."

"Because she has a similar nature." Kurama said. "It makes sense."

"I guess." Joey turned.

"Hey…Our guards just ran away." Link pointed innocently to the barred door, where the guards ran away. "They were yelling 'Get them!'"

The boys listened carefully as they heard a "Get away!" and a "Go" and the screams of the two guards. With that, three familiar faces and a familiar blue fairy appeared at the doors.

"So how fun was it being prisoners for a few hours?" Katara winked, placing a hand on her hip. Aya was currently, unlocking the doors, and opened them. Link rushed out first in a melodramatic manner and clasped his arms around Kaori like he hadn't seen her in years. Then he smiled his dorky grin at Navi.

"Geez, doofus." Navi said. "You haven't seen us a few hours, not a few years."

"I know, but I thought we'd die there." Link whined.

"It sucked." Joey walked out followed by Kurama.

"Believe me, I heard him say it approximately 150 times." Kurama smiled, placing his hands in his pockets, as usual.

"Yeah, get off me." Joey eyed the redhead, and turned to the girls. "You all are famous. All we heard about was the strange girls and the fairy that had freed the carpenters."

"Well, we like to carry a big reputation." Aya said, smiling.

"Let's just get out of here?" Kaori turned.

"I think we don't have to hurry as much, all the guards are knocked out from here to the entrance." Aya pointed out, pointing the guards slumped against the wall.

"So, I underestimated you." Joey seemed a bit surprised.

"Well, when you get together a pessimistic fairy like me, a girl who's a master archer, a girl with a sword, and a girl who can shoot ice shards at someone, and then make them angry, you've got a very formidable team." Navi explained.

"Exactly." Kaori chirped.

"I guess." Joey lifted an eyebrow, but nodded his head. "Where did all the carpenters go?"

"There were four, and they left the fortress already, I presume." Katara explained.

"Oh." Joey shrugged. The newly reunited group turned a hall and walked into one of the rooms where one of the carpenters was. This room led to a hall that led to an exit. But something was standing in their way. The guard they had fought before, the last one, fully healed, stood there, a smile brimming from under her veil.

"We're not going to have to fight her again, are we?" Kaori turned to the other girls.

"I hope not." Katara rubbed her head.

"I don't think so." Aya said. "She doesn't have her scimitar out. If she wanted to kill us, she'd have that out right?"

"Unless she'd want grin at us to death." Navi remarked.

"You had to fight her?" Link turned to Kaori.

"Yes." Kaori nodded. "It was hard, too."

"You look as if I want to fight again!" the guard laughed.

"What?" all six of them stared, dumbfounded.

"Of course I don't!" she smiled and lifted a hand. "You beat us fair and square. I have no reason to fight you."

"You…don't?" Katara questioned.

"Nope." The guard shrugged. "You see, you have impressed us. No one has ever been able to outsmart the Gerudo guards and sneak through Gerudo Fortress successfully! We're so shocked, and now, I must say, you've earned our respect!"

"We have?" Kaori lifted an eyebrow.

"Of course!" the guard. "We'd like to make you honorary Gerudos!" She pulled a set of brown, small cards out of her pocket.

"For just us girls?" Aya asked.

"Well, definitely for the girls who broke past us." She lifted up the cards. "But would you like your friends with you too?"

"We'd like our friends to be honorary Gerudos, too." Katara said. "I mean…they are our friends. It wouldn't be fair."

"I see, camaraderie." She smiled. "So you wish to be fair and just? That was what I was waiting for. To be an honorary Gerudo, you must be willing to do something for your friends! Well then, I present you six with Membership cards! Use these, and you can do many things here in the Valley. You can get in the fortress, the training grounds, the archery range, and past the gates to the Haunted Wastelands. Have fun!" She handed each a card, and then smiled before walking off to another corridor.

"So…Anyone else think that was totally random and a bit strange?" Joey turned, pocketing the card in the pocket of his jacket.

"It was a bit unexpected, that's for sure." Kurama said, doing the same.

"I think it's awesome! More friends!" Link cheered. "So, are we going to go now?"

"I believe so." Kurama nodded. The group quickly exited the fortress, and migrated outside, towards the gates.

"So…" Joey turned. "Now that that's over with, do we find some place to rest or what?"

"Well, we can head back to where the Carpenters were, or just camp out somewhere near here." Kurama suggested.

"Campfire!!" Link ran out towards the ridge where the Carpenters were. The group followed and grabbed Link, where they began to set up camp.

"So, we camp out tonight, but what next?" Katara asked and she and Aya made some food.

"Where is the Spirit Temple anyway?" Kaori turned to Navi.

"I'm thinking about my geography here, and if I think about the clue Sheik gave us from his legend when all this began, I think I know where it is." Navi said. "I think it's in Desert Colossus. But that's past The Haunted Wasteland."

"The Haunted Wasteland?" Joey whined. "I thought we were done with haunted stuff."

"No." Navi said. "I don't really know what to expect in the Haunted Wasteland, so before we leave, we should talk to someone about it."

"There was a Gerudo at the gates when we past them, so I'm assuming that she might know something." Kurama said.

"I guess." Navi sighed.

"Well, just think, tomorrow we could be working on our last temple!" Kaori smiled.

"Geez, we've been stuck together that long?" Joey turned.

"I guess so." Kurama smiled.

"Do you think us none Hylians will have to go home after this?" Joey questioned.

"It depends, Joey." Kurama turned. "I guess that's up to the Sages and Zelda, once we find her."

"I don't want you all to go." Link said. "I've had more fun with you than I ever had with Saria, and I really like her!"

"We know." Joey laughed. "The strangest things to happen to me have happened here in Hyrule."

"…Yes." Kurama smiled. "Very much so."

"Yeah." Katara mused. "I guess it is up to the Sages."

"Will you have to go?" Link asked again. "What will Rauru make you do?"

"I don't know." Kurama said.

"The Sages reside in the Sacred Realm, so technically aren't we their guardians?" Aya asked.

"For lack of a better term, yes." Kurama said, now eating what the girls had prepared with everyone else.

"I don't want to think about it until the time comes." Joey said.

"Yeah, we kind of have to survive the next temple before we can assume anything." Aya said.

"And with the heck that the Shadow Temple was, imagine the joy the Spirit Temple will be." Katara added.

"Oh, Din." Joey rolled his eyes. "That will suck."

"We'll see tomorrow, won't we?" Kurama nodded.

"I bet it's pretty." Link said. "It sounds like a pretty temple to me."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Kaori agreed.

"I've never seen it before, so…" Navi just shrugged.

"We'll see tomorrow then, won't we?" Kurama said. With that, the group ate and fell asleep…

**A/n: **Oh, how fun the Spirit Temple will be! Can you all just imagine? I've got stuff in mind for this temple already, and it is only getting better. There's your three chapter update, people! Hope you enjoyed. The Spirit Temple saga will be more fun, believe me! Stick with me here.

Just think: the Spirit Temple, and then Ganondorf. This story is just flying by, isn't it?

Review, please!!!


	39. Medallion of Spirit Part 1

**A/n: **AH!! (sweat drop) Sorry everyone! I'm even sorrier that this is a one-chapter update. I'll try to start the next chapter today. HEY! At least I updated, right?

I totally meant to update this sooner, but life got in the way. Life…and well…okay, I got the game _Tales of the Abyss _and have been sort of playing that, too. But I have a part-time job also, okay?

So, any-hoo, there'll probably be more info at the ending a/n so, no sweat. But, whatever… Depending on how big this update is, I'll have some info on my stories and whatnot.

So, the authoress will shut her trap now so we can get on with the story, hm?

**Disclaimer: **Duh…

**Chapter 39: Medallion of Spirit Part 1**

"Did anyone else think that sleeping in the desert sucks total ass?" Joey asked, slipping his signature black jacket on. The travelers were currently getting ready as best they could, and packing things up to move on.

"It's extremely unpleasant, that's for sure." Katara responded, packing up the last of their makeshift camp. The group stood there, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Our objective is the Haunted Wastelands, right?" Kurama looked to Navi, who was, as expected, perched on Link's head.

"Yup." Navi nodded. "But I don't know a whole lot about it other than its bad."

"Nice." Joey commented as everyone started walking. They walked into the fortress area, and the guards nodded as if they were friends (as the group was still a bit…freaked out by the sudden camaraderie with the Gerudos.) Walking onto the gate, they came up to a Gerudo, this time dressed in white with short, cropped red hair. She lifted an eyebrow, but waited for someone to say something.

"Uh…Hi?" Joey lifted a hand to the Gerudo.

"Smooth one." Katara quipped.

"Get off me."

"Hi, Miss Gerudo-gate chick!" Link cheered, waving a hand in an almost freakishly enthusiastic manner…as usual. "We've come to ask stuff."

"Hey, my approach was much smoother." Joey rolled his eyes.

"………Well…I guess that's what I'm here for." The Gerudo quirked an eyebrow again, now officially freaked out.

"Excuse that." Kurama turned to Link, and back to the Gerudo, intervening before the group embarrassed themselves anymore. "Can we ask you about the Haunted Wastelands?"

"The Haunted Wastelands?" the Gerudo said. "Why do you ask?"

"We're planning on going there." Kurama answered.

"You're planning on going to the Haunted Wastelands." The Gerudo seemed somewhat shocked. "You must not value your lives none."

"What does that mean?" Joey turned around.

"It means what it sounds like." The Gerudo said. "The Haunted Wastelands are not a pleasant place, whatsoever. Many travelers go through there towards the Colossus, and never return."

"…" the group sat in a collective silence. "………."

"Sounds fun to me!" Link threw a thumbs-up, totally enthusiastic about it all.

"Only Link would think this is fun." Navi said in a frustrated manner.

"I'm used to it by now." Aya piped. "Are we still going through?"

"It appears we have no choice." Kurama had a hand to his chin in thought. "It appears odds are against. We have to get to Desert Colossus to find the temple. But there isn't another way there."

"What's the big deal?" Link turned. "It sounds awesome to me."

"We know it does, Link." Joey patted the boy on the back. "But everything is fun to you."

"Because life is fun…" Link trailed off with a look on his face most often associated with someone who's drunk.

"Ignoring him…" Navi intervened again. "So, we have to go…"

"You all are going anyway, aren't you?" The Gerudo said suddenly. "Go ahead, I won't stop you. It's obvious that you're doing something important. But I can tell you something that could help you. Albeit, it's only a legend."

"Hey, anything helps us." Katara turned.

"Well, there's said to be something in the desert called the Phantom Guide. It's said to be a ghost that guides worthy travelers to the end of the wastelands. I hope that helps." The Gerudo started to fiddle with the handle at the end of the gate. After a creaking noise, the gates opened up. "Just come back in one piece."

"Oh, we'll come back…" Joey trailed off.

"If not in one piece, then we'll just have all the pieces with us." Aya finished as the group walked past. It wasn't a couple of miles until they started to feel heavy winds and felt like they were slowly sinking, and walking was hard.

"Okay, I've got a question for everyone but Kaori." Aya turned. "Is the wind beginning to bother you?"

"Hey, very much so!" Joey lifted a hand.

"It feels okay to me." Kaori said innocently. "But I guess that's because of the Spirit-thing."

"Yeah, it's like a twister to us and an ocean breeze to Kaori." Aya commented, crossing her arms.

"Well, ignoring the insufferable winds." Kurama lifted a finger. "If the winds don't kill us, it will probably be the sands. Sooner or later, we'll end up buried."

"And you sound calm about this why?" Joey turned the redhead, squinting a bit because of the sand whirling around in the air.

"…" Kurama didn't answer the question. "I think this is where the Hover Boots would come in handy."

"Ooh…The whirly-sand stuff made the shape of a horse for a second." Link broke the moment, totally not paying attention to the important matters being discussed.

"Pay attention, moron!" Link was whacked upside the head by Navi. He yelped and turned back around.

"What I was saying…" Kurama sighed. "Was that we should do is put on the Hover Boots. They'll keep us from sinking at the very least. And it might get us there faster." Everyone nodded and slipped into their Hover Boots and began to dash across the wasteland. They saw flags set up and followed those, one after the other before stopping in front of what looked like a small structure of some form. The sand in the air made it hard to make out.

"Hee…" The group stopped before turning up the sound of the laugh. Floating above them was a ghost that looked similar to a Poe, holding a lantern and all.

"Is this the Phantom Guide we were told about?" Joey turned to Kurama and Navi. "The one that was a legend?"

"Well…It's a ghost…in the middle of the Haunted Wastelands…so I'm assuming that it's the Phantom Guide." Navi said in a sarcastic manner.

"You really think I'm stupid, don't you?" Joey whined.

"Of course not, Joey." Navi quipped. "I think you're a genius."

"You're really obnoxious, aren't you?"

"Ooh… The whirly sand made a tree this time…" Link said dreamily.

"And the Hero of Time, or de facto leader, is so tuned into the situation that he's a step ahead." Aya sighed loudly, along with everyone else.

"Back to focusing on the Phantom Guide…" Kurama announced, turning to it.

"…I'll be your guide on the way. But coming back, I won't play!" The Phantom Guide started. "I'll show you the only way to go. So follow me, and don't be slow!"

"What?" Joey stopped. "Oh! I get it now!"

"She's going." Kurama started after it, and everyone did as well. After a few minutes of following the strange ghost it stopped in front of another entrance. It laughed again and disappeared. The group wasted no time in running past the entrance and toppling over…well, everyone but Kurama, that is.

"So, did anyone else think that was weird?" Aya said, standing up and brushing sand off of her dress.

"It was certainly strange." Katara said, doing the same.

"The Phantom Guide was totally awesome." Link grinned. "Let's do it again."

"Why would you want to do that again?" Navi looked down at Link. She was floating next to Kurama at the moment.

"Yeah. I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes about five and a half times." Aya said. "It was one false turn and you're a goner."

"I thought it was cool. You know, the nifty sand going 'whoosh' and the creepy ghost-dude and the things and whatnot." Link made strange hand gestures to compliment his rant.

"Well, as invigorating as walking through a desert storm was…" Kurama started, now that everyone was standing. "Shouldn't we get moving?"

"That would be a wise idea." Aya said. The group turned and studied their surroundings. The area they were in now was completely the opposite of what the Haunted Wastelands were. It was calm and peaceful, to some extent, and very pretty. Compared to everything else they had experienced in the desert, it was a lot more calming.

"I like this better than everything else in the desert, thus far." Aya said. "It's not threatening, windy, or freaky."

"Well, I'm sure if we walk in further, we might find what we're looking for." Navi said, sitting atop of Link's head…yet again. "Hm…"

"What is it, Navi?" Kurama looked to the fairy, which seemed concentrated on something.

"I sense something." Navi stopped. "I think I sense a Great Fairy nearby."

"Awesome!" Link ran off in some random direction. Though, in the midst of running, he tripped and fell because of a green, spiky monster that popped out of the ground.

"Oh, yeah." Navi said nonchalantly. "There are monsters in Desert Colossus."

"Thanks for the update." Joey rolled his eyes as he slashed the green monster away before it killed Link or something. "What are they called?"

"Leevers." She answered, flying back over to Link, who was whining as he stood back up. He brushed the sand off his tunic, and turned back to the group, apparently over his complaints.

"What were we doing?" Link stopped, a hand to his chin in serious thought. "Oh yeah!!! The Great Fairy-chick!"

"Yes, Link." Kaori sighed. "The Great Fairy-chick."

"What?"

"Nothing, Link." Kaori smiled. "Let's just move on?"

"Hey Navi!" Link looked up at the fairy, which was floating around his head. "Where is she?"

"Somewhere off in this direction." Navi gestured.

"I guess we walk and try and find it." Katara shrugged. The travelers walked off in the direction the fairy pointed too, and stopped at a canyon-like wall that cut off the desert from the other side of who-knows-where.

"We've walked as far as we can go." Kurama said. "Unless someone wants to climb. But I highly doubt there's anything of total importance beyond the canyon."

"Nope, not really." Navi confirmed.

"The wall seems kinda hollow though." Joey said, hitting a spot a couple of times with his fist.

"Well, that helps." Aya said. "Probably a hidden cave or something."

"Hey, Link!" Navi looked down. "Use a bomb."

"Yeah!" Link pulled on out of the pack. "I love blowing stuff up!" He seemed way too enthusiastic at the idea of exploding things, but the group shrugged it off. The hat-clad hero chucked a bomb at the wall, and everyone took a step back. A second passed, and the hollow spot exploded, crumbling, and revealing a cave, like everyone thought.

"Oh, we're geniuses." Aya commented as the group walked in.

"I know." Katara agreed. "It hurts that we're so smart."

"Huh? What hurts?" Link turned around with a half-out-of it expression on his face.

"That proves my point." Aya said. The group stopped as the ground changed to the familiar blue stone that they were oh-so familiar with. They were, indeed, in a Great Fairy Fountain, complete with the clear, sparkling water and the Triforce mark and all.

"Well, you know what to do." Navi looked down at Link.

"…" Link paused for a second, causing the group to slap themselves. They were relieved, though, when he snapped his fingers and pulled out his ocarina. "I play the pretty, one song-thing, right?" Link looked up at Navi.

"If you're talking about the Goddess-forsaken lullaby, then yes." Navi seemed agitated at the mention of it.

"Okay!" Link began to play, thankfully, Zelda's Lullaby.

"That song is pretty at first, but a thousand times later, it gets annoying." Joey said.

"I finished!" Link twirled around on his heel.

"We know." They all said, as the signature laugh of the Great Fairy signaled her arrival. She appeared in front of the group, floating in the air in a sitting position, her pink hair floating around her.

"Hello, young ones!" The Great Fairy said, waving her hand.

"Hi!" Link waved.

"As a gift for finding me, I will give you a new power, young ones!" the Great Fairy shifted positions. "Stand still!" She blew a kiss towards the group and glowing orbs in their respective colors appeared in front of them. The glowed brightly before absorbing into their bodies and disappearing like everything else that had been given to them.

"What this?" Joey inquired, looking up the Great Fairy, who laughed a bit.

"I've granted you with the last of the Goddesses' power!" she smiled. "I've given you Nayru's Love. It's a defensive spell, that when cast, will form a barrier around you that makes all damage to you invalid. You're protected for a short time!"

"That sounds useful…" Katara pondered, shrugging.

"Finally, we have one we can use more than twice." Joey mumbled, only to yelp pathetically when Katara stepped on his foot.

"If you young ones ever are in need of help come visit me!" the Great Fairy laughed again before disappearing in her pool.

"So…" Joey broke the silence. "Do we go now?"

"Not unless you feel like staring at the fountain, Joey." Kurama remarked, as everyone else was making their way to the exit.

"Oh!" Joey skittered over there and stopped. "Wait, hey! Sarcasm not appreciated, dude."

"…" Kurama merely shrugged and went out the cave.

"Whatever." Joey rolled his eyes. Once outside, the group pondered what to do next.

"What do we do now?" Link looked up at Navi.

"What else than what we originally came here for?" Navi answered. "We find the Spirit Temple. Though, we have to journey farther into the desert for that."

"I guess we have no other choice." Katara sighed. With that said, the group ventured farther in. After walking for awhile and dodging some Leevers, the group stopped when a large building came into sight.

"Whoa…" Link stopped, as did everyone else.

"Is that the Spirit Temple?" Joey turned to Navi.

"Yup." She responded.

"Whoa…" Link repeated.

The building itself was carved into the canyon wall. It was huge, if that not being an understatement. Carved into above the entrance was a goddess, fitting the description "in the Goddess of the Sand." There were stairs that led to the entrance and platform, and more stairs. The entrance was open, but there was an eerie feeling that would keep trespassers away.

"To add to the amazement of this moment, I'd like to point out that this was made by female engineers and masons." Navi said. "Since one male is born to the Gerudos every one hundred years, this was most definitely built by females."

"Girl power." Aya said simply.

"That's awesome!" Kaori smiled.

"That's amazing." Joey concluded as the group walked towards. They walked up the first set of stairs. They stopped though, when something hopped down in front of them. As expected, it was a familiar Sheikah who had a bad habit of being cryptic and weird.

"Hi, Captain Teapot!" Link waved.

"It's Sheik!" Navi whacked him on the head. "Call him Sheik, you dope."

"But…" Link whimpered.

"Sheik!" Navi said almost frighteningly.

"Okay…" Link looked crushed.

"Anyways…" Sheik interrupted. He lets a silence ensue, as if to set the stage for his next mysterious lesson. "Past, present, and future."

"Past, present and future?" Kaori piped, listening to the Sheikah.

"The Master Sword is a ship at which you can sail through times river freely…" He trailed off, his ruby-red gaze set upon the heroes. "And the station for that ship is the Temple of Time. There you can go back and forth, up and down the river's flow."

"…" the group listened. Actually, Navi and Kurama seemed to get everything he was saying off the bat, Link looked confused, and everyone else just waited patiently.

"To restore Desert Colossus and the Spirit Temple, you must sail that ship." Sheik concluded in his usual enigmatic manner.

"Huh?" Link cocked his head.

"Heroes…" Sheik stopped, somehow forming his harp. "Listen to the next song I have for you: The Requiem of Spirit!"

"Link!" Navi whispered harshly.

"Oh, yeah!" Link pulled out his ocarina quickly and put it to his lips. Then, Sheik plucked the strings of his harp, and Link followed the notes flawlessly, and together, they serenaded in a strange tune. It was bitter but strangely comforting, and, as the two played, a vacant feeling filled the group as they listened.

"Now, restore the Spirit Temple." Sheik put his harp away. "And find the Sage. Good luck, heroes." With a snap of a Deku Nut, Sheik was gone before any one could blink.

"I hate it when he does that." Joey said, turning to the group.

"So…" Katara stopped. "What did he mean?"

"Actually, he probably meant we can't start the Spirit Temple as we are." Kurama lifted a finger.

"Oh…" Aya caught on.

"I get it." Katara nodded and so did Kaori.

"…" Joey and Link still looked confused.

"He meant we have to go back in time and enter the Spirit Temple as kids." Kurama turned to the Spirit of Fire and the Hero of Time.

"Oh!" Link and Joey said in chorus.

"Well, now that everyone is up to par with the situation, shall we move on now?" Navi plopped down on Link's head.  
"Hey Link!" Kaori chimed. "Play the Prelude of Light?"

"On it!" Link pulled out his ocarina again, and quickly played the song. After a minute, the group found themselves in the Temple of Time. They ran into the Master Sword room, and stood in front of the pedestal. Without a second thought, the Master Sword was dropped into the pedestal, and they were engulfed in a familiar blue light.

**A/n: **Okay, so there's one chapter down. I TOTALLY didn't mean for the update to be so prolonged. Summer, I was busy for the duration of it, having a job and friends and all. But also, I was working on another story on Fiction Press. I have my own story on there that I've been working very hard on, and the one chapter I have, I spent like, a week writing and editing. THOUGH, for people who are interested, the story is called _Of the Twilight _and the link to where it's at is on my profile. Anonymous reviews are available and I would like to here from some of my reviewers there, too.

My other excuse is that I got _Tales of the Abyss _(a totally awesome game, all of you must play it!) And that is another reason why I was busy. But I swear, school and job take predominance!

Alright, I'll shut up now.


	40. Medallion of Spirit Part 2

**A/n: **Oh, crap!!! It's a freakin' miracle! I'm not dead!!! I'm finally writing this chapter. I hadn't been on FanFiction in awhile, so I've been tooling around on it and finally the motivation to continue this kicked in. Maybe, now, I can finally finish this, which would be great. But I'll ramble more at the end. Who knows, we'll see if this is a multi-chapter update.

I'll shut up and start the story now.

**Disclaimer: **Despite not having updating in awhile, I still haven't acquired any authority in the Zelda world. And never will… So whatever.

**Chapter 40: Medallion of Spirit Part 2**

"Man that always gives me a headache!" Joey was the first one to speak after the party's nosedive back in time. Everyone was regaining their senses, and they were kneeling on the stone floors of the Master Sword room.

"Is everyone alive?" Navi asked, floating slowly around the group, inspecting them all. After confirming everyone was okay, she went over and bonked Link in the head, causing to snap out of his time-induced stupor.

"What? Huh?" Link said is his usual intelligent tone. "Oh wait! We did that one thing and we're in that one place!" Link hopped up with all the enthusiasm and speed that came with his child-form.

"Now then…" Kurama trailed off. "Should we go back to the Spirit Temple, now?"

"Sure." Katara answered first. "But what are we expecting to find beyond that crawling space?"

"I'm not sure, myself." Kurama pondered. "But it's obviously important."

"So, exploring it might help us figure out what to do in the other half of the temple?" Aya jumped in the conversation.

"Probably. Since the other half of the temple was blocked by a huge stone block, we'll probably need something to move it." Kurama turned to Link, who looked like he was paying absolutely no attention, instead singing what he long ago dubbed his "Happy Dancing Cucco Song."

"Hey Link!" Kaori stepped on his foot.

"Ow!!!" Link whined pathetically, hopping on one foot while holding the other, looking like a total embarrassment doing so.

"Pay attention!" Kaori scolded the Hero of Time, rubbing her head.

"Yeah, dude." Joey sighed loudly. "You are the one with the ocarina and all."

"Oh yeah!" Link let go of his foot and whirled around to face the group in a far from graceful spin. After regaining his balance, he pulled out the delicate instrument. "What do I do?"

"If you'd been listening five minutes ago, you would know." Navi sighed.

"Huh? We were talking five minutes ago?"

"Yes."

"Wow…I didn't know that…"

"Just play the Requiem of Time."

"That song that Captain Teapot taught me?"

"Yes the song that _Sheik_ taught you." Navi growled.

"Yay!!" Link began to play the song with his unbridled enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that was scary for a song that sounded like a funeral march. In a flash of orange light, the heroes found themselves on the warping platform in the Desert Colossus, facing the intricately designed, architectural masterpiece of the Spirit Temple. Avoiding the Leevers, the group managed to the get to the steps of the Spirit Temple entrance, and stopped.

"Let's go!! Because Captain Teapot said so!!!" Link threw a finger in the air in a random, determined manner, and ran into the temple without anyone else to stop him.

"Oh, Link!" Kaori slapped herself.

"I gave up on stopping him." Kurama said nonchalantly, apparently unfazed at Link.

"Me, too." Joey agreed.

"It's SHEIK!!" Navi growled again, flying in after the blond headed boy. Sometimes, she was as random as her partner.

"She doesn't realize she can be as weird as Link." Aya smiled.

"She's just more violent." Katara agreed, and the rest of the crew followed in after Link and Navi. They caught in on the ladder half of Navi beating the crap out of Link's head, and Link's pathetic whines echoed throughout the seemingly abandoned Spirit Temple. After a second, Navi stopped, and perched herself on Link's aching head.

"Ow!" Link whined again. "That was mean! Why did you do that?"

"You're a moron and didn't listen." Navi said unfazed.

"Anyway…" Kurama intervened. "Let's proceed."

The party of travelers stepped up the next set of stairs and walked farther in the main lobby of the Spirit Temple. Looking around, the party stopped when the noticed someone else was there.

"Uh…" Joey turned. "Is that supposed to happen?"

"I don't know." Navi shrugged. "I'm not a time-teller."

"I don't think it's a bad thing." Kaori held up a finger. "Maybe they'll help us."

"I think 'they' is a she." Katara concurred.

"Hey look! Someone's here!" Link finally jumped on the bandwagon.

"Thanks for pointing out something we noticed eight minutes ago." Navi said wryly.

"Huh?" Link looked up at his fairy companion. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, nothing at all."

"Okay!"

"Hey, you all!" The woman called out somewhat harshly. "Who are you all?"

The group walked closer to the woman, and got a closer look at her, and she looked like she was in her late teens-early twenties. She was definitely Gerudo, with the tan skin, gold eyes, and shining red hair, hers pulled back into a tight, high ponytail on her head. She was thin but voluptuous at the same time, wearing a sleeveless, strapless top that covered what was necessary, and a pair of big desert-style pants, both in various shades of pink. Her shoes were simple, red with some silver jewels on them, and she wore a pair of pink, cloth, fingerless gloves with silver buttons, and some silver and gold jewelry here and there. All-in-all, she was very pretty.

"What in the hell are a bunch of kids doing hanging around in this temple?" the woman laughed a bit, amusement in her voice.

"Uh…Captain Teapot told us to come here…I think…Yeah! He taught us the song and said 'time, yay!' and then we went 'whoosh' and now we're here…"

Silence ensued….

"What?" the woman lifted a delicate eyebrow, hand now one her hip. "What is this idiot rambling about?"

"Ignore the rambling idiot." Joey waved a hand. "Socializing is a challenge for him."

"Alright." The woman followed that advice and looked beyond the green-clad young boy and to the rest of the party. "Who are you all anyway?"

"I'm Link!" Link practically sang.

"Um…I'm Katara…Hi?" Katara waved.

"Joey!" Joey smirked with in his usual, egotistical manner.

"Aya." Aya said simply.

"Kurama…" Kurama nodded.

"Uh…I'm Kaori!" Kaori lifted a hand.

"I'm Navi, the idiot's fairy." Navi glared down at her companion.

"Okay, I'm Nabooru." Nabooru waved a hand. "But what I'm more curious is what you all are doing here? What business do a bunch of kids have in a temple like this? Especially the little idiot over here." She pointed down at Link.

"Idiot? Cool! Navi calls me that all the time! I must be special if someone else is calling me that, too!" Link cheered before getting bonked on the head again by Navi.

"We're…exploring." Kurama answered for the party. "We have something to do, we're just exploring."

"…" Nabooru pondered. "So you all are exploring? I'm not sure I can easily believe that."

"Well, why we're really here is a lot more confusing to understand." Aya chimed in. "I'm not sure we can explain it and make sense."

"Well, we're doing a horrible job at making sense now." Navi remarked, and everyone knew she was referring to the Hero of Time, though he didn't seem to catch that.

"I won't push anything. I like to avoid confusion when I can." Nabooru remarked. "But you're here now, and I don't think I can get you to leave anyway."

"Which leads me to ask, why are you here?" Joey lifted an eyebrow. "I know you're a Gerudo and all…" He seemed suspicious.

"Wait… Do you all think I'm with Ganondorf?" Nabooru seemed shocked for a moment. "You think I'm with him?"

"You are a Gerudo." Navi mentioned from her spot on Link's head. "He is the leader of the Gerudos."

"Ha!" Nabooru laughed out loud. "I'd rather cut my own hands off then serve that bastard! Serving that evil man would be giving up all of my honor as a Gerudo thief!"

That threw the heroes for a loop.

"Wait, you're calling Ganondorf a bastard?" Katara inquired. "So, you're not with him?"

"Excuse the language but hell no!!" Nabooru said defiantly. "Like I said, I wouldn't give up my honor by serving that man! Anyone who does follow him must be shallow fools!"

"You're my hero." Navi said. "Finally, a Gerudo we don't have to be all secretive around.

"You seem honest enough." Kurama shrugged, calm as usual.

"Listen, I swear on the Goddesses and the Spirits of this temple that I'm not with that bastard." Nabooru held up a hand. "I'm here to steal the treasures from this temple! The treasures that greedy man took from the people and hid here! I'm taking back what's rightfully ours!"

"This place is full of treasure? I just thought it was some creepy, abandoned building like every other temple we've been too…" Joey said.

"Nope." Nabooru continued. "Ganondorf, since the beginning of his reign, stole all the secret treasures of the Gerudo people and locked them up here under the protection of his stupid minions. Now everything is hidden here. How dare he?"

"You seem very angry about that." Link cocked his head.

"You bet I am!" Nabooru seethed. "This place used to be a place of Gerudo worship!"

"Kind of like how the rest of the temples were area of worship for other people…" Aya pondered. "That's been the pattern so far."

"I want this place to be what it once was." Nabooru seemed far off now. "I want to take back all the relics he stole and turn this place back into sacred place. It's been mistreated and now it's just fading away. He's hurt my people so much and none of them realize that! His evil promises are brainwashing my people!" Nabooru's fists were clenched.

"He's done harm to a lot of people." Navi remarked. "He's hurt every single race in this land. Not just yours."

"I know that…" Nabooru looked away.

"That's why I want to stop him!" Link said in a rare moment of dedication. "He killed the Great Deku Tree! And hurt the Gorons and the Zoras! And destroyed the nifty castle town! I want to stop him…"

"We all do!" Joey joined in on Link's little soapbox.

"So is that why you kids are here?" Nabooru placed her hand on her hip again. "How do you plan to stop him?"

"Uh…When we start exploring the temple, we'll figure that out." Joey sighed.

"We're working on it." Aya sighed, too.

"Say, you all can crawl through that, right?" Nabooru pointed.

"It's easy for us…well, it's kind of a tight fit for Joey and Kurama, but they manage." Aya pointed.

"I'm looking for something called the 'Silver Gauntlets'… They're magic relics that grant the user new physical strength. With them, you can move the block and enter the other half of the temple!"

"We can help you find them!" Kaori chimed. "We are going through the other half of the temple soon…"

"How about we help each other then?" Nabooru smiled. "If you can find them, we can help each other accomplish our goal."

"There's no reason Nabooru can't come with us." Kurama explained. "We all might be able to go…"

"How about I just blow up the hole?" Link cut off Kurama's thought, and was already pulling out a bomb.

"Wait, you moron!" Navi screamed that but Link ignited the bomb and chucked it at the hole. Everyone covered the ears as a loud explosion echoed through the empty lobby. Nabooru stared half confused, half mortified by the fact that a little, pointy eared kid just blew up half a wall in a sacred house of worship.

"He…blew up the wall…" Nabooru said, shell shocked by the scene.

"Link!" Navi bonked him on the head the same time that Kaori stepped on his foot.

"What?" Link whined, unsuccessfully blocked blows. "Kurama said Nabooru could come with us…I was just trying to make it easier!"

"Are you saying I'm fat or something?" Nabooru broke out of her state of shock, both hands her hips and an eyebrow twitching. "If you are, I'm not afraid to put you through one of the fifty-two ways of Gerudo torture!"

"…" Link cowered on his knees. "I wasn't saying she was fat! Please don't kill me! Kaori and Navi are scary enough!" That earned him a couple of more slaps on the head. "I have a headache now!!"

"Well, as bad as it was that Link just defiled the walls of sacred temple of Gerudo worship, we can still move on now. At least go through now without crawling." Joey shrugged.

"Oh whatever." Nabooru sighed loudly. "I guess I shouldn't care. We built the damn thing; we'll probably just patch it up. It was kind of cool though now that I'm over the initial shock."

"Can I stand now?" Link whimpered.

"Whatever." Navi sighed, and sat back down on Link's head when he stood again.

There was an awkward silence…..

"Let's go on now!!!" Link sang, and ran forward, tripping on a couple of rocks left over from the blown up wall, ungracefully gaining his balance, and running father in.

"I guess that's our cue to move forward…." Katara sighed.

"How do you put up with him?" Nabooru looked down at Kaori.

"Uh…" Kaori blushed a bit. "I guess he is cute in stupid, clueless kind of way."

"Stupid and clueless, he is." Joey smirked.

"Come on!! Captain Teapot wanted us to hurry!!" Link yelled.

"It's SHEIK!" Navi yelled, too. "Don't make me shove that ocarina of yours down your throat! Try explaining to him what happened to the ocarina then!"

"NO! That would hurt!" Link whimpered again. "But, wait…Wouldn't I die?"

"Well, I would be shoving a rather good sized object down your means of breathing, so most likely, you would die."

"Oh….That would suck!"

"Yes, it would! Now everyone hurry!"

"This should be interesting…" Katara smiled and then let out a large sigh.

"Who is Captain Teapot again?" Nabooru looked at everyone.

"A friend of ours, actually…" Kurama explained wearily. "I really forgot how that came about though."

"I don't know." Aya stopped. "I remember he came up with it when we went to go see him in the castle town…" Aya kept that as discreet as she could, since no one felt like explaining time travel to poor Nabooru.

"I'll take your word for it. That kid certainly is a little, hyper character, isn't he?"

"Believe me, we know." Joey said dryly.

With that, everyone else followed Link and Navi beyond the unnecessarily blown up wall and into the first half of the mysterious temple, their new companion in tow.

**A/n: **I've decided I'll do a multi-chapter update and then contact all my regulars to see if they're still alive, too.

So, this chapter was really a filler chapter on what to come, seeing as how I think the Spirit Temple saga is going to take the longest to do. (Though, I never expected the Fire Temple saga to be longer than the others.) I'll have as much fun with this as I can.

With Nabooru, I decided it would be fun to toy with her a bit and I decided to let her explore the first half of the temple with everyone else. But I changed the crawling thing to Link just blowing up the wall, since that seemed to fit my Link better than actual logic.

Onto another chapter!!


	41. Medallion of Spirit Part 3

**A/n: **Uh…voila! Another chapter… Sound the happy music, now.

**Disclaimer: **Duh.

**Chapter 41: Medallion of Spirit Part 3**

Upon entering the first half of the Spirit Temple, the heroes plus Nabooru had found themselves past a staircase and, now were walking farther in, waiting for something to happen…

"Uh…" Joey looked around. The structures were still as monotonous as they were in the lobby of the giant building, but they still held a creepy quality to them that sent shivers up the spines of the party. "Is something supposed to happen?"

"Like a Stalfos popping out of nowhere trying to decapitate you?" Navi asked in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Yeah, something like that." He nodded.

"Oh damn!!" Link's scream pierced the ears of the party and the dead, they were sure. "Don't take my head! I like it!"

"Oh, there really was a Stalfos." Joey blinked before summoning his fire-sword.

"Go figure." Katara lashed the skeletal being with on her ice attacks, and it stumbled back a bit, giving Link a chance to actually get ready.

"You guys seem rather unfazed by this." Nabooru complimented, pulling out shining silver scimitar, placing herself in a ready, attack position. "This guy is total wimp, I'm sure."

"There were a million of them in one of the last temples we explored." Aya said, forming a light spell that pierced the monster.

"That must suck." Nabooru ran forward with a formidable speed, leaping up gracefully in the air before landing behind the Stalfos and slashing it with several quick slashes. Link stabbed it and Kurama threw and earth attack at it before it finally died.

"Jeez." Joey brushed off his jacket and de-formed his fire sword. "That guy was stronger than the ones in the other temples."

"Isn't this the final temple?" Kaori asked, putting her bow away. "So, wouldn't it be the hardest temple?"

"Harder than the Water Temple?" Joey inquired.

"No, the Water Temple was just a headache." Aya chimed.

"In many ways." Katara shuddered at the thought of the giant mess that temple was.

"You guys sound like a bunch of war veterans rather than kids." Nabooru said as the moved forward. "I've seen some pretty bad crap before, but you sound like the other veteran women that used to speak about the wars past."

"Well, we're not really war veterans…" Joey pondered.

"What's a veteran?" Link asked.

"Someone who's survived a war." Kaori explained.

"Oh…." Link still looked lost, but got distracted by spot on the wall that he swore looked like King Zora. "It's big and fat and looks like the fish guy!!"

"It actually kind of does…" Joey cocked his head to see the spot.

"I'm losing brain cells listening to theses two." Katara mentioned wryly, and Navi just flashed in mild annoyance.

"We're moving on you two!" Navi flashed again.

"Oh…" Link stopped. "Oh I remember what we're doing now! We're finding those thingys and doing that one stuff that's hard."

"Thinking is hard for you, Link…" Navi perched on his head again.

"It never hurt to think before. Do I have a…what do they call them…disease? Is that what it's called? The thing that makes people sick?"

"No, you don't have a disease. I was insulting you." Navi sighed.

"Oh, never mind…Wait…Hey!" Link finally caught on.

The group moved forward into an area that a bunch of Keese hanging around on the walls. In the middle of the room there was a large Armos that stood creepily there, waiting to be set off.

"So, what do we do?" Nabooru asked.

"Uh…." Link thought hard. "Dance!"

"No!" they all yelled in unison, upsetting the Keese but getting their point across.

"It was only a suggestion…" Link said innocently, looking off to the side.  
"Help Kaori shoot down the Keese!" Navi ordered, but sighed loudly when Link looked totally lost. "The Slingshot?"

"OH!!" Link yelled, the dim little light bulb in his head finally going off. He pulled out the little weapon and began shooting down the Keese with Kaori. Once they were done with that, everyone turned to the Armos that began to charge around the room wildly.

"Didn't we destroy that thing with a bomb before?" Aya turned.

"Bomb?" Nabooru shrugged. "I'll help. Hey squirt! Give me a bomb." She demanded at the clueless Hero of Time.

"Sure!" Link handed her one of the explosive devices. Nabooru threw it at the Armos, and the Armos succumbed to the explosion and the bars that blocked the next door lifted.

"Cool!" Link ran forward past the next door.

"Enthusiastic little shit, isn't he?" Nabooru lifted an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yup." Joey joined Link in the next room, followed closely by Kurama and the girls.

The next room was interesting. There was a tall grate-like fence column blocking another platform with a switch. Going around the room was a Bubble that let out its weird, random noises.

"I'm assuming that first we destroy the Bubble than find a way to hit that switch?" Katara questioned.

"I'm on it!" Kaori aimed and shot down the Bubble and it dissipated mid-fall.

"Do I throw the nifty, shiny throwing thing?" Link looked up at his fairy partner.

"Nope, you throw the Slingshot." Navi said sarcastically.

"Okay!" Link readied himself to throw the weapon before Joey grabbed his arm, eyebrow slightly twitching.

"Dude, even I caught that sarcasm." Joey said somewhat proudly.

"Uh Link…Throw the nifty, shiny throwing thing." Kaori sighed.

"Alright! If Kaori says so!" Link threw the Boomerang and it hit the switch, flying back into Link's hand. The grated fence column then slammed down from the first platform to the exit of the room, making a handy bridge.

"It's a bridge!!" Link cheered.

"Woo-hoo." Navi said again, floating around the group.

After a few more rooms, one including a strange Anubis monster shooting fire at them (though Joey helped take care of that) and a classic Silver Rupee puzzle (the heroes figured out that it must be written in some unwritten rule book that a Silver Rupee puzzle must be placed in ever dungeon known to mankind), the weary travelers plus Nabooru found themselves in a room with a strange sun insignia on the ground.

"Uh…The Sun is kind of creeping me out." Joey declared.

"I think its nifty." Link shrugged.

"What do we do? There are bars over then next door." Katara pointed.

"I've seen these in other Gerudo dungeons before." Nabooru pointed out. "You have to feed the sun insignia sunlight in order to activate."

"Well, there's an obvious lack of that in this room." Joey said dryly.

"Oh…" Link looked around. "There isn't…"

"Duh…" Navi said. "We could make there be sunlight in this room, though."

"Oh! Would yelling out 'Let there be light!!' help? And we could were sun god costumes and sing the Happy Light Song and paint our faces purple! That would be totally awesome!" Link rambled.

"No…" everyone stared.

"Well, since we've doing every other time we've had a predicament, you could always blow up the in the ceiling." Nabooru pointed up to the ceiling.

"Yes! Bombs!" Link threw the bomb straight up and it exploded just in time to clear a hole in the ceiling. The sunlight poured through the hole and covered the sun insignia. The eyes on the sun opened (creeping Joey out more) and the bars on the door lifted. Walking through a few random passages, the party found themselves in a large, desolate like room. All that was in it was an Armos, switch, and few torches.

"Uh…" Katara lifted an eyebrow.

"The Armos isn't reacting to us, so that probably means it isn't alive or whatever." Kurama, who had been quiet the entire time, mentioned. "You could use it to keep the switch down."

"Link, go push the Armos onto the switch down there." Navi ordered again.

"Why me? I should be exempt from that since I'm the smallest

guy! Make Joey do it!" Link whined.

"Oh, it'll make you manlier!" Joey said in an egotistical manner.

"This coming from the apparent king of manliness." Katara rolled her eyes.

"Manly?" Link questioned again in his clueless manner. "Whatever!" Link ran forward (stumbling a bit, of course) and used all of his 12-year old might to push the Armos forward onto the switch. Joey used this chance to climb up and light all of the torches with his fireballs.

"I don't feel any manlier." Link looked over himself, brushing some nonexistent dust of his tunic.

"Manlier? How old are you, twelve?" Nabooru laughed out loud.

"Right now…" Link looked off to the side.

"I'm fifteen! Three years more manly than you." Joey bragged.

"Quit being mean!" Link sighed. "Oh look! A door!" Lin ran forward through the now open door.

Following after the easily distracted Hero of Time, the group pushed onward, going past a room with another sun switch, this time on a block. Once past that and few other random passages, they reached a somewhat eerily quiet room. It was a large room, and in the back of it, there was a throne with a huge suit of armor sitting in it. It was a strange but scary sight, even though the suit was about as alive as stone.

"What's with the suit of armor on the throne?" Joey asked, turning the group.

"I don't remember anything like this in the Spirit Temple before." Nabooru said. "There was never any suit of armor…That's kind of strange."

"Well, hasn't it been under Ganondorf's control?" Kurama turned.

"Yes…"

"Well, perhaps things have changed."

"But the suit-thing is still creepy." Joey added.

"Uh-huh…" Aya nodded.

"Well, there's something to this." Katara joined the conversation. "The door is barred over."

"We should be close to the end of this half of the temple." Nabooru stroked her chin. "The Silver Gauntlets that I'm looking for should be beyond that door or close to it, anyway."

"So…" Joey looked and stopped and sighed loudly when he saw Link poking the humongous suit of armor on the throne.

"Link!" Kaori scolded. "That could be dangerous!"

"It's fine!" Link shined his usually goofy grin.

"Yep, real safe." Navi flashed a bit, floating around the group. "That's why it's rising from the throne and doing what I'm assuming is growling and aiming his gigantic battle ax at your head."

"Oh Holy Nayru!!!" Link shrieked and barely managed saving his head by dodge rolling out of the way. He tumbled into Kaori, who stumbled and both fell into an ungraceful heap. Popping her head out from under the pile of her and Link, she noticed that the giant suit of armor was stomping towards them, slowly and ominously.

"Oh, crap!" Kaori rose to her feet, somewhat inelegantly, and dragged her and Link over to the side.

"What is this thing?" Joey growled and formed his fire sword, glancing over that the blue fairy, who was concentrating at the moment.

"Hold on a sec…" She mumbled, and flashed a bit more before flying over to her usual battle position near Link. "Now that it's alive, I think it's called an 'Iron Knuckle'. I don't know much about other than that it's slow and powerful."

"We need to figure something out!" Link whined while blocking a rather hefty amount of slashes from Iron Knuckle. The strength of Iron Knuckle's slashes was stronger than Link's small frame and Link fell backwards, rolling out of the way again.

"We can't take it head-on!" Nabooru had her scimitar out.

"Well, from the front won't do any good!" Katara growled.

"It'll just block with its ax!" Aya said. "What about from behind?"

"That's what Joey and I were aiming for!" Kurama confirmed, and low and behold, him and fiery blond were slashing it and jumping back before it whirled around and took off their heads.

"I'll help!" Nabooru also ran forward, slashing it several times speedily, gracefully and quickly leaping out of the way soon after.

"It seems to be doing something." Aya said, letting out a light attack from her and the other girls' positions behind the pillars. Katara was there letting out some ice spells while Kaori used wind magic, seeing as her arrows had little influence on the Iron Knuckle. The Iron Knuckle suddenly sprang forward and its huge battle ax sliced clean through the pillar they were near, like a knife in butter. The girls shrieked a bit and got of the way, going behind the others fighting in the front.

"Well, I've seen my life flash before my eyes several times now." Katara rolled her eyes again, slashing it with another water-whip spell.

"Oh, this is annoying!" Link whined.

"Damn! This pisses me off!" Nabooru seethed, now taking no heed to how many times she cussed. (Though the heroes paid no heed seeing as how she didn't know _them _well enough).

"How long with this take?" Kaori inquired, slashing its back with a quick wind attack.

"Take this!!" Link ran forward, rolled the side, and slashed the Iron Knuckle's back repeatedly.

"It shouldn't take forever." Navi confirmed. "This thing isn't invincible."

"Oh, so it'll only take close to forever." Joey remarked.

"You can be surprisingly pessimistic at times." Navi shot back.

"No I'm not!" Joey slashed it again.

The heroes and Nabooru continued to slash the large being, hitting as many times as they could without hurting themselves. Nabooru ran forward, slashed it more times, and the boys followed in after. Link let one of his incoherent screams and slashed the thing downwards before the Iron Knuckle let out a strange growl. The huge suit of armor dropped its battle ax and collapsed the ground in pieces, becoming nothing more than a lifeless pile on the ground.

"Yes!" Link jumped up from his kneeling position and began to enthusiastically singing his "Happy Dancing Cucco Song".

"That surely took long enough." Joey rubbed a hand through his now messy blond hair.

"Yeah, and now we all look like crap." Aya mentioned, looking down are her dirty and somewhat messed up clothes.

"Tell me about it." Katara fiddled with some rogue strands of hair.

"Great…" Nabooru readjusted her top and put a hand through her messy red ponytail. "The things I do for my people."

"It's worth it, I suppose." Kurama sighed, calm as always.

"Yay! The door opened!" Link pointed enthusiastically to the now unbarred door.

"Well, let's not just stand here and stare at it." Navi flew over to the door. The party nodded, and gathered their bearings, walking through the door. On the other side, they were greeted with the hot but surprisingly welcoming dry air of the desert. They were high up, overlooking the vast spaces of the Desert Colossus, and then they all realized they were on the hand of the Goddess of the Sand that was the Spirit Temple.

"Oh, crap!!" Kaori squealed. "I can't believe we're this high up! What if we fall?"

"We're not going to unless someone pushes you off." Aya said sarcastically.

"You wouldn't?" Kaori seemed terrified.

"Yeah, I'm that malicious of a person to push my friend off a high-up ledge."

"O-okay…" Kaori calmed down.

"Hoo-hoot!!!" A familiar hooting sound (to everyone except Nabooru that is) shocked the party some much that they all nearly collectively fell of the ledge.

"Holy Farore!" Link cried. "It's the spawn of evil!"

"I wouldn't call him the spawn of evil…" Kaori lifted an eyebrow once she was of the initial shock of nearly plunging to her death.

"I'm very impressed." Kaepora Gaebora turned his head to and fro while speaking. "You all have grown exceptionally strong since the last time I saw you. You have faced many obstacles and made plenty of new allies!" He motioned to Nabooru, who sort of nodded and went with the flow.

"It has been forever since the last time we spoke to you." Navi mentioned.

"Yes, it has." Kaepora nodded. "And it shall be the last as well. You all have faced many tests, all of them testing your strength, both physical and mental. You've faced them all admirably. Not only have you stayed true to yourselves, but you have stayed true to each other. Your friendship really is one that as legends say, spans time and chaos."

"Spans time and chaos?" Katara lifted an eyebrow, pondering the owl's words.

"Yes. The bond between friends, family-like and romantic, should never be taken lightly." Kaepora hooted a bit as the young heroes blushed a bit and Nabooru merely smirked (still going with the flow). "I have no doubt that your bond as comrades and friends can span your most trying of tests, the ones you will face in the coming trials. You do only have a couple of more things left before you face your ultimate goal, no?"

"What is your ultimate goal?" Nabooru turned the strange group of kids. "What in Din's name is going on?"

"That is something even you, Nabooru, will come to understand. Perhaps you play a part in the destinies of these kids, no?"

"I do? Nah!" Nabooru waved a hand. "Wait, how do you know my name?"

"It is written in time, my dear." Kaepora said cryptically.

"Okay, he's confusing me." Nabooru crossed her arms.

"You're beginning to sound like Sheik." Navi said.

"Oh, Captain Teapot?" Link broke the moment.

"Sheik!"

"Anyways…" Kaepora waited a minute before continuing. "Despite your obvious differences, you all have done well. And you still much to do, despite the impending trials ahead. You, young Spirits, still have to finish awakening your powers."

"What do you mean?" Joey lifted an eyebrow.

"I won't say much else other than you must awaken your guardian spirits."

"Like what I used at the Water Temple?" Katara jumped in.

"Yes…But moving onwards, I only have one more piece of advice left to give you heroes before my place in your destinies is fulfilled. Two witches live in this temple, powerful ones. They are Ganondorf's surrogate mothers! Ganondorf learned some of his most powerful black magic from them!"

"And they're here?" Joey choked out.

"Indeed. Be on your most careful guard. They could come at any time." Kaepora said seriously.

"Alright. Is that all?" Link cocked his head in a childish manner. "That seems pretty small for your final message and all."

"Oh, of course not." Kaepora flapped his wings a bit.

"Who are you, Kaepora?" Navi turned to the giant owl.

"Nothing but the incarnation of a Sage long past." Kaepora nodded. "Now my job is to watch over the heroes in their long and perilous journey. Now, I must take my leave. Remember this: your bond can surpass anything. Don't lose sight of that fact. There will always be a solution to the most dangerous and hopeless of your problems. Just never give up on someone else if they lose sight of themselves."

"Okay." They all nodded.

"Oh yes, and don't die. I do enjoy knowing I helped you all for something!" Kaepora hooted in a joking manner.

"Didn't really plan on that…' Joey smirked.

"Navi said I could die if she shoved an ocarina down my throat!" Link cheered.

"And I'll still do that…" Navi said somewhat scarily.

"Yes, now I will let you be. Good luck, everyone!" With that said, Kaepora Gaebora flapped his giant wings and flew off, leaving the heroes and Nabooru in his wake. Link turned around the chest next to them, and fiddled with it before pulling out a pair of large, silver gauntlets.

"The Silver Gauntlets!!" Nabooru cheered. "We did it! Thanks, kids!"

"No problem…" There was a silence.

"I have no idea who you guys are or what you're really doing here in the temple and why you're talking to a giant speaking owl, but I really appreciate your help." Nabooru turned, her gold eyes shone with sincerity. "You really are a good, strong group of kids. I didn't think you'd all last in a temple like this, but boy was I wrong!" She laughed out loud, hand on her hip.

"No problem at all, really." Kurama nodded with the rest of the crew. "Let's leave this place before we give any more congratulations though."

"Yeah, Kaori looks like she's about to pass out because of how high up we are." Aya pointed to her pale friend, who looked terrified but was putting up with it for the sake of the group.

"Backwards!!" Link ran back into the temple.

Going back was way easier than making it in. All of the obstacles were already cleared so really all it was a matter of navigating their way back down. Luckily, Kurama and Navi remembered most of the way back. Once back to the lobby, they walked outside, the desert air greeting them once again. They stepped out onto the steps, and onto the sand.

"What in the hell?" Nabooru's sudden gasp caught the surprise of all of the group, and they, too, gasped at the sight of a purple vortex engulfing the Gerudo thief. "What is this?" She coughed a bit.

"We're catching ourselves a thief, aren't we sister?" The party looked up and flying around them was a pair of witches on brooms. They were color coordinated, and one was red while the other was blue.

"Yes, we are sister." The other said. "But we should take another prize as well, but whom?"

"Hm…" The other witch playfully said. "All of them seem great…"

"Ah!!" Nabooru was up to her neck and her arm was waving above the shadowy vortex. She was coughing a bit, trying desperately to find the breath the say something. "Don't let them capture you, kids!!! Do something and go!!" Nabooru was now completely engulfed and the vortex vanished.

"Nabooru!" they all cried.

"What happened?" Link looked puzzled.

"This isn't good…" Kurama's calm voice broke the shocked silence.

"There's no way in hell!" Joey cursed. Kurama, now, was facing the same fate as their Gerudo friend. He retained his calm composure but obviously seemed a bit troubled by the witches' choice.

"Go!" Kurama called out as he was almost gone.

"But…Kurama!" Aya called out, but now he was gone.

"We have our prizes, sister! Time to go and have fun now!" With that, the witches were gone.

After getting over the initial shock of losing both Kurama and Nabooru in a matter of minutes, the group tried to regain their composure and figure out what to do.

"T-they're gone!" Link stuttered. "Do we go back and get them?"

"We don't even know where they are!" Navi added.

"…" Aya nodded with the girls. "Do we move on?"

"What do you mean move on?" Joey turned to Aya.

"To the Temple of Time and go forward."

"We can't leave behind Kurama or Nabooru!" Joey seethed.

"She's not saying that!" Katara scolded Joey. "But isn't that all we can do?"

"We're going to have to leave them behind and hope they're in the future somewhere." Navi added. "Those witches were exceedingly strong. Messing with them as kids is like suicide. You have to be in your adult forms to even dream about facing them. That's why both Kurama and Nabooru told us to go on. Kurama probably meant for us to go on and come back as adults."

"What will happen to them in five years, though?" Aya asked.

"I have no idea." Navi said. "Let's hope the other half of the temple is long though. We're going to have to find a way to awaken those damned powers of yours. There's no doubt we'll need them."

"O-okay…" Link stood up. "Let's go forward now!" Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time and played the Prelude of Light, warping the lost group to the ancient temple.

**A/n: **Ha… Okay, so I will warn you now, those who don't know much about Kurama need not worry. I don't plan to go all complicated on you with the fox-demon thing. I'll say that it will finally be revealed, I just won't pull out the Yoko fox form thing, because that would be expected, and also, I like normal Kurama. Besides, Yoko could probably crush them beneath his big toe if he wanted.

So…yeah…whatever. Please, dudes, review! I'm going to try very hard to get new chapters out this week!

REVIEW!!! (readies Scotty).


	42. Medallion of Spirit Part 4

**A/n:** Okay, so I come bearing more chapters! Hooray? I don't really have much to say at this point, so we're moving on….

Oh, and the dungeon stuff for the Adult Spirit Temple will be kind of rushed, but I don't think anyone will care if I skim over it, since the Spirit Temple was long and drawn out to begin with. Its just that the guide I've been using up until has seen better days…It's missing the last two dungeons of the game. (My brother and I really pulled a number on it…) Any-hoo, I'll make the actual story stuff the focus, here. Yeah… 

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, yeah…whatever…You know the drill.

**Chapter 42: Medallion of Spirit Part 4**

After pulling the Master Sword from its pedestal and plunging themselves forward in time, the group stood, recollecting themselves in the empty chambers of the Temple of Time. A bit spacey at the moment, the heroes waited for the time-induced headache to clear before moving forward with their mission.

"So…" Joey stared at the Silver Gauntlets on the ground, the ones that Link had dropped when he pulled the Master Sword out. "These things have enough power to open the second half of the Spirit Temple? Are we sure?"

"It should work." Navi said, plopping herself down on Link's head. "There infused with special magic. That's why their relics of the Gerudos. They can move objects that most normal people only dream of moving. That includes humongous blocks."

"Alright!" Link snapped out of his stupor and grabbed the Silver Gauntlets from the stone floors. "Then let me just slip them on!" Link took off his normal, leather gauntlets, putting them in his pack for safekeeping, and slipped the magic relics on his hands. He stretched his fingers a few times. "I don't feel any different." 

"You shouldn't feel any different." Navi pointed out, flickering her aura a bit. "You'll probably feel some weird surge of energy or something when we get around to moving the block in front of the passage. It's not like I'm a credible expert on super strength or anything."

"So…" Katara started but stopped. "Should we move on now?"

"Yeah…I'm worried about what happened to Kurama during this time." Aya said. "If something bad did happen, what do we do to fix it?"

"Hm. Well, this doesn't really change things, seeing as how time is kind of screwed up in the first place." Navi explained.

"But if something did happen to Kurama, how do we continue without his help?" Link asked, looking up at the blue fairy.

"Are we implying that Kurama might have died or something?" Joey snapped.

"Well, it's a possibility, isn't it?" the fairy shot back.

"Not one that I like to consider!" 

"I'm not saying he actually did die! I'm only putting on a list of possibilities." Navi flashed her aura in annoyance. "We'll figure out how to move on with our plans _if _Kurama did…die, but it's highly unlikely, even in Kurama's case."

"Why don't we just move on to the Spirit Temple now?" Kaori piped. 

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can prevent that from happening." Aya said. "I don't know, but I don't think he died. Let's not forget Nabooru was taken, too"

"Yeah, we can't let Nabooru die, either. Let's go and get them before they die."

"Okay, then!" Joey said. "Yo, Link! Play the Requiem of Spirit, pronto!"

"Alright!" Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time, and played the slow, mournful tune. In a flash of orange light, the group was in the middle of Desert Colossus again, the warm, sandy air biting them hard in the face. (Well, except Kaori of course.) They trekked across the sand and ran quickly up the stairs to the massive building. Once inside, they turned away from the first half (the one with the blown up wall, Link's gift to the Gerudos, Navi decided) and walked up the blocked entrance of second half.

"Okay, Link." Joey remarked. "Let's see what super strength does to you. Maybe you'll make up for being the shortest of the dudes."

"Oh, don't make fun of him." Katara said.

"I've been making fun of him this whole time, and he's barely noticed. It's not as if he'll start now." Joey retorted, shrugging nonchalantly and pointing to Link, who, as predicted, was oblivious to the insulting and was blindly pushing the block with a super strength only brought by magic gauntlets. 

"That's flipping sweet!" Link cheered. "I can't believe I moved a gigantic block!"

"That was awesome, Link!" Kaori smiled.

"How can you put up with him with a straight face?" Katara turned to the Spirit of Wind.

"Um…Talent?"

"Good enough, I guess."

The group walked through a passage, and found a room that had a razor trap speedily circling the room, and a Beamos perched in the center, its eye wander and waiting to annihilate intruders.

"Why do most opening rooms to dungeons have a Beamos?" Joey asked.

"I don't know, ask the Sages." Navi remarked. The heroes readily eliminated the Beamos, and set off a switch in the ceiling that opened up some doors. 

_To somewhere else in the Spirit Temple…._

"Hm, Koume, it appears the group is back." One of the witch sisters observed the Heroes through magic, her twin looking in as well.

"I guess they're gutsy or stupid, no?" Kotake agreed. "How much do those kids think they can accomplish after all this time? Everything is still playing into our hands, sister."

"Yes…"

The conversation was enough to snap Nabooru out of her pain-induced stupor. Lying behind a magic barrier, she was sprawled on the cold stone floors, virtually incapable of moving. Her golden eyes fluttered open, and she twitched finger, wincing as even that small gesture sent a twinge of pain through her body.

_Kids? They couldn't be talking about them, could they?_

Nabooru's thoughts flashed back to the group she traversed the first half of the temple with five years ago. Five of the six kids had managed to escape the witches' grasp when she was kidnapped after that, but the other kid, Kurama, was taken with her. Though, she had barely seen, no less heard from the soft spoken redhead in the time she had been prisoner to the twisted, magical experiments.

_I thought we both told them to go and not come back! No matter how old they are they can't come back here! The witches will destroy them, no doubt!_

She didn't know how much they'd grown or how strong they could be. Nabooru just didn't want to take the risk of them suffering as much as she and Kurama had these five years, since she knew Kurama had to have experienced what she had. 

_You guys have…to go! _

Nabooru couldn't manage consciousness anymore. Her mind just became fogged by darkness.

_Back to our heroes…_

"Ugh! I'm sick of these stupid sun puzzles!" Link whined. The group had traversed through several rooms of the dungeon and managed to collect both the dungeon map and compass, but not as if those items were really used. They had also experience several of the "sun" puzzles where they had to feed the switches light in order to move on.

"Oh, get over it!" Navi scolded. 

"But they're annoying! There's a blue million of them in this temple!"

"Kind of like how there were a blue million dead things in the Shadow Temple?" Joey interrupted, getting his foot stepped on by Katara as a result. "Ow!"

"Stay focused!" she growled.

"Okay, okay!" Joey whined, as well. In the meantime, Link, Kaori, and Aya had managed to solve the puzzle, and they were ready to move on.

"We're ready!" Kaori called to the quarreling pair.

"Oh, sorry!" Katara smiled and jerked Joey's arm, ready to move forward. The Spirit of Fire protested, but complied, not ready to argue with Katara.

The party was in massive room, one that they assumed was the center of temple, with a large statue of the Goddess of the Sand, a clearer version of what was carved on the exterior of the temple. 

"Oh…Is that the chick that the temple is carved to look like?" Link asked.

"Yes…" Navi was blunt. "It is. It seems there's a chest on one of her hands, though." 

"Well, then, time to climb, right?" Link seemed enthusiastic. 

"Let's stop for a minute." Navi suggested. "I'm a bit more hesitant about heading further into this temple with a rest."

"Why's that?" Link looked at this fairy companion.

"These witches are really strong." Navi started. "They are Ganondorf's surrogate mothers, after all. I want you all to be as best as you can. If you can't get past these witches, with or without Kurama, you all can't dream of beating Ganondorf. Koume and Kotake taught him everything he knows."

"So, it'll be similar to fighting Ganondorf, then?" Kaori quipped.

"Yep." Navi nodded. "But I can't really say what fighting Ganondorf will be like."

"Now that you mention it, we haven't really seen him since that day we collected the final Spiritual Stone from Ruto, have we?" Aya asked.

"No, not really. All I remember is that he destroyed the Castle Town." Katara shrugged.

"But that's also the last day we saw Zelda, right?" Link questioned.

"Yes to that also, but Impa assured us she was fine." Navi pondered. "Something else I'm worried about…We need to figure out how to awaken those summonses along the way of the Spirit Temple. Only Katara has hers."

"I haven't had to use mine since…" Katara pointed out.

"It doesn't really matter." Navi sat on Link's head. "According to what I forced out of Sheik, it's important in the powers of the Spirits. I think those powers are one of the key things we need to defeat these witches and Ganondorf. The idea of a final battle isn't far off in the horizon anymore."

"It's not, is it?" Kaori stared up at the massive Goddess statue, spacing off.

"It's strange having a conversation like this without Kurama." Aya said. "I feel weird talking about our final battle when he isn't here to hear it."

"It is kind of strange." Joey had a hand on his hip. "Well, we'll fill him in when we find him! And Nabooru…Don't worry! We'll get Kurama back. This is Kurama we're talking about."

"He's surprisingly stubborn." Aya laughed. "No matter, let's just work on these summon things."

"They'll come naturally…At least that's what Sheik said. He also told me, though I didn't say it, that 'they're bodies will know when they need them.' I'm assuming they'll come in a time of stress or something strange and cliché as that."

"Right. So, do we move on now?" Link interrupted. "We have to save Kurama, right? And we have to get these things awakened…and a lot of other things! Let's try to get this done! Let's move on, Navi!" Link did a thumbs up in an enthusiastic manner, winking while he did so.

"You're an overenthusiastic moron. Let's go." Navi just shook her head beneath her glowing aura, so no one could see. _I just hope he can maintain that determination when things get real serious… I hope they all can._

_To Nabooru…_

"Wake, girl!" 

Nabooru's cloudy mind came back into focus as she was forced awake by one of the witches, presumably Koume, Nabooru guessed. Her muscles still couldn't bring themselves to move, and without proper first aid, they probably never would unless her wounds were healed and the effects of the experiments were lifted.

"Girl!" Kotake snapped as well. "Awake! We have to start preparing our surprise for our little heroes!"

"Yes, a wonderful surprise!"

"What…" Nabooru whispered. _What are they going to do? _

Nabooru didn't have much of a chance to think anything else. She felt her world go dark again as she was freed from her magic cage.

_The group, again._

Climbing up to the hands of the huge Goddess statue proved a rather difficult feat, what with Link's clumsiness, Joey's distracting comments, and Kaori's paralyzing fear of heights. Aya, already distracted, and Katara just went with the flow as Navi pestered the other three to get a move on. Aya and Katara, actually, the ones who weren't really distracted enough to stop them from climbing, managed to get to the top first. 

"This is a first." Katara mentioned. "For once, we're not the last ones. Usually the girls are last."

"Yeah, because Kurama is usually the first to get past climbing obstacles since he cheats and jumps instead." Aya said dryly. 

"He does cheat…" Katara nodded in agreement, matching Aya's dry tone. The two winners of the unofficial competition stared down at their fellow traveling companions. The two decided that the race for time to save Nabooru and Kurama really wasn't going as planned. Though, if Kurama knew them well enough and could sense them from wherever he was, he probably already knew it would take another decade for them to get focused enough to get the darn temple completed.

"HA!" Joey cheered triumphantly as he reached the top of the hand where Aya and Katara were. 

"Congratulations." Katara said, her arms crossed nonchalantly over her chest. "You're a winner. Actually, you're third place, but we're not holding it against you."

"Yeah, whatever." Joey turned and looked down at the other two. Kaori had her eyes clamped shut and Link was clumsily making his way towards the top with a goofy and enthusiastic look on his face. When Link finally got himself over the ledge, he fell over on flat on his face, and Kaori was still slowly getting up.

"Kaori?" Link finally turned to look over the ledge with the rest of the group. "Are you okay?"

"NO!" Kaori shouted, causing all of them, even Navi to jump. "My foot is slipping! Oh, why me!" Kaori was now officially freaking out.

"Kaori!" Aya called out. "Can't you regain you're balance? There are plenty of cracks to stick your foot in!"

"No! I can't!" Kaori's eyes were clamped shut again. Then, she lost it. Her other foot slipped. She was so scared now that she could barely comprehend the fact that she had completely let go of the statue altogether.

"Kaori!" Everyone called out, Link the loudest, and even Navi joining in. The girl was now plummeting to her death against a cold stone floor.

_I can't die! Oh crap! What do I do? Oh crap! Oh crap!_

Kaori now chanted that same phrase over and over again in her fear-ridden head. Scared to death now, she just shut her eyes. This was all happening in a split second, and she was scared that it had happened so fast. 

Then her pendent, the Spirit of Wind's pendent, began to glow a purplish color that caused her to look down. Then, a bright flash of purple overcame the large room, and before Kaori could say a word, she was saved, lying back down on a large bird-like creature.

The "bird" was big enough to fit several people or more. It had a serene aura to it, and it was gorgeous in a comforting way. It had cream-colored and purple tinted feather that gave off a metallic, rainbow-ish feeling to them. There was a large purple and gold headdress like accessory over the bird's eyes, so they were covered. Its wings were long and the feather coming off of them glowed and spread out like large multicolored flames.

"That is…totally awesome!" Link cried out in amazement, throwing his arms in the air and nearly falling off of the ledge. Joey decided to avoid any more incidents and grabbed the clueless hero's arm and jerked him back to a safer position, where he continued his victory dance.

"Awesome, Kaori!" Aya called out to her friend, who was riding back up to the ledge, now totally shocked as to what to think. Kaori seemed to be awestruck and the glowing in her blue eyes just told the group that she was lost in a wonderland of how "cute and totally awesome" (They knew she'd say that) the spiritual creature was.

"This is so cute and totally awesome!" Kaori cheered, now sounding ever-so-slightly like the green-clad Hero of Time victory dancing in the background.

"Called it." Navi remarked. "Well, that's two Spirits down." 

"Right." Kaori, now done with her freaking out completely, hopped off of the bird and stared at it. "How do I…I don't know…de-summon this?"

"It's your bird." Aya shrugged, and crossed her arms.

"You're a lot of help!" Kaori returned the sarcasm

"I don't have one yet! I can't tell you how to de-summon it!" 

"Whatever!" Kaori stared the bird straight in the eye. Then she shut her eyes and it was as if she was having a spiritual conversation with it. In another flash of light, the bird was gone, and glowing of Kaori's pendent ceased.

"That was awesome!" Katara smiled. "So now we know that the Spirit of Water has a mermaid and Wind has a bird."

"I wonder what Fire, Light, and Earth have?" Kaori inquired.

"I have a few guesses." Navi said. "But we'll see when they come." In this time, Link was distracted with dancing and Joey had spotted a chest that had a small key in it, and threw it to Link, who got hit in the head with the object. He started into one of his maniacal fits of laughter and after a second, returned to his utterly clueless self, shoving the key into his pocket. (He promptly named the key Rico, as he said he hadn't named the keys in a long time…Not that anyone missed that.)

"Let's hurry up!" Navi insisted. "I don't want to waste anymore time. Let's just be glad Kaori awakened her summon. Let's hope we can get the other two awakened before we find Koume and Kotake and wherever Nabooru and Kurama are."

"Right!" The entire group nodded and continued onwards.

**A/n: **There is another chapter. And yes, Kaori's summon-thingy is a bird. I thought it fit the whole "wind" thing. Next chapter should be Aya and Joey, but we'll see how we do that.

Review! (Scotty growls). 


	43. Medallion of Spirit Part 5

**A/n: **Yay! Another multi-chapter update! Woo-hoo! I'm sure you all are dancing in your seats thrilled.

Oh, sorry if the dungeon stuff is out of order or just incorrect. I'm sure that doesn't matter as much as the plotline though…I hope. I'm condensing the length of this temple and focusing more on the plot. I'd spend another chapter or two on this if I wanted to in-depth describe the dungeon's puzzles. I don't want to do that. 

**Disclaimer: **Refer to the other 42 chapters, please.

**Chapter 43: Medallion of Spirit Part 5**

_Somewhere…_

"Our little group of heroes will soon be here, to rescue their dear, little friends, Kotake!" Koume squealed in a slightly demented way.

"Hm, we won't let them take our experiments without a fight, hm?" Kotake responded, nodding at the first of their victims, who was ready and set for the witches' big plan. 

"What about the other one? The boy?" Koume questioned, gesturing a shadowy area of the chamber.

"Oh, I'll bring him out now; he seems ready enough to perform for us, Koume." Kotake gestured, and their other victim, Kurama (who else?) came out from his area of the large stone chamber. Though his appearance hadn't changed a whole lot, still his usual adult form, his eyes weren't their striking green, but now a creepy yellow color.

"What will his little friends think?" 

"Oh, I don't know, Koume. Cry maybe?"

"That would certainly be satisfying."

_Back to our heroes…_

"Dammit! How long is this temple?" Joey complained. The party of travelers had faced many annoying traps and had made considerable time with Navi's pestering. Actually, so far, aside from some meaningless sun puzzles and some new foes, Anubis monsters, they really hadn't gone very far in their trek across the desert temple.

"It probably does." Aya said. "It's making me exceedingly impatient."

"I'm sure it is." Navi remarked. "This probably the Goddess' way of toying with you all. Luck really isn't ever on your side…Except for Link." She gestured to the hero, who was currently humming some incoherent melody to himself.

"Oh well, let him be happy." Kaori sighed loudly.

"I want to get my summon-thing already." Joey complained again.

"Geez, do you ever stop complaining?" Katara asked dryly. "That's all you've done since we've entered the Spirit Temple."

"Well I'm sorry if I'm impatient and that my friends were captured by two psycho witches!" Joey testified.

"Good enough, I suppose." Katara kept her tone flat.

The party came to another room that had barred-over doors and no real puzzles…It was a silent room, and for a moment, the group thought they had come to a dead end.

"Uh…It's quiet." Link spoke up.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Navi responded, now floating around the group in a battle ready kind of way.

"Ah!" Kaori squealed and jumped aside as several strong looking Anubis monsters ambushed the party from that side. Kaori immediately pulled out her bow, ready to shoot. "Help!" Kaori demanded.

"I hate monsters, I've officially declared that." Joey grumbled, quickly forming his fire-sword. He ran forward, slashing one of the monsters, though it quickly responded back by hitting him. Joey managed to dodge that, but still received a scratch because of it.

"Take that!" Katara growled, throwing some ice shards at the monster Joey was taking care of, and then blasting another one with a stream of water. Link was, on the other hand, blissfully slashing away and one of the monsters, which had already taken several hits on Link. 

"Why does he carry a shield if he never uses it?" Aya questioned, casting a light spell on the same monster Link was fighting.

"I don't know. It looks good?" Joey shrugged, slashing another with his sword. After awhile, only a couple of monsters were dead.

"There's still one left." Aya pointed out, but Link slammed his sword straight through it and killed it, looking half-insane doing so, but at least the monster was dead. "Ha!" Link cackled. With that, the door opened and chest revealed itself. "Ha!- oh look, a chest!" Link whirled around, shoving the Master Sword into its sheath and running to open the chest. He pulled out a beautifully crafted shield, one that looked like it was made of a special, shiny metal. It was red on the trim and the rest was silver, and so shiny, that it could probably reflect light. There were leather straps for the arms on the back.

"This is cool!" Link was giddy at the prospect of a new toy. "What's this?" The hat clad hero looked up to his fairy companion.

"It's the Mirror Shield." Navi explained, sparing the sarcasm for the sake of time. "It is another relic of the Gerudos, I think. From what I've heard, it can reflect light, hence the 'Mirror' part of its name. It should make sun puzzles a lot easier."

"Oh, I hate those." Joey twitched. "So, Link has a new toy, then?" 

"Yeah, but at least this one isn't threatening to mankind." Navi explained.

"Good point." He agreed. Link applied his new "nifty" shield and turned clumsily to the group on one heel. "Ready to go on?"

"Ready as we'll ever be." Katara nodded and the party moved forward into the next chamber.

_To the witches…and stuff…_

Nabooru was weak, very weak. It took awhile but she was able to get her mind to focus long enough to try and contemplate the situation. Though her mind was still fuzzy, she was keen enough to realize that whatever that was going to happen next, would be bad. She couldn't move her body at all, but she couldn't decide whether or not it was forced or that she was really that weak. But her mind and world were dark, too…which worried her more.

Then she was able to get her vision to focus, and she could see, through two eye holes that saw outside wherever she was. She could see the two wretched witches, and she could see a figure a little ways off, but not too far away. Who was that?

And then she saw red hair. Could it be him? Though they were prisoners together, she hadn't really seen a whole lot of him, if seen him at all. She didn't know what he witches did to him; it obviously wasn't good, seeing as she could make out scary yellow eyes.

_What in Din's name is going on? _

_**Back to our heroes…**_

The heroes were weary as the trekked farther into the seemingly endless temple. They had decided that they gave up on the prospect of no sun puzzles and that, if there were really Goddesses out there, they would let the end of the temple be in sight soon. 

But the Goddesses really were subjecting the party to some kind of cruel joke. 

"So, how far do you think we are, Navi?" Link asked innocently, looking up at Navi. 

"Uh…" Navi started. "We have to be at least towards the end. If not, then this really is long."

"I'm not sure long is the right word." Katara pointed out. "I think obnoxious. We wouldn't be this way if it wasn't for the random traps and sun puzzles we keep encountering. Or if it wasn't for the fact that Aya and Joey still have to figure out how to make their summons."

"I would be less annoyed, yes, if it weren't for those factors." The fairy agreed.

"This is fun!" Link cheered. "We're almost finished getting through the temple, so that means we can save Kurama and Nabooru soon, right?" 

"It's amazing how much more focused he can be when one of his friends are in trouble." Navi quipped.

"At least it's motivation." Aya said off-handedly.

"Some motivation…" Joey remarked. A silence followed.

"You know, the closer we get to the end of the temple, the more I feel like something bad will happen." Navi broke the silence. "I don't know. I can sort of sense Nabooru. But I can't really sense Kurama in the way that I remember." 

"What do you mean?" Joey asked.

"I don't know. Just a feeling I have, is all." 

"So, is it Kurama or no?"

"It's him…I hope."

"I don't like it when you say that." 

"Are we too late?" Link looked up, his blue eyes wide in a naïve panic.

"No, dude, we're not late." Navi reassured. "But whatever the witches have in store for us will not be pretty. We may wear ourselves out just fixing whatever obstacles they have for us already."

"As if this stupid place and all its evil sun puzzles aren't bad enough!" Link cried out, his hands up in one his strange, maniacal fits. He began to laugh strangely about something incoherent before returning to his normal, moronic demeanor and returning his gaze to his friends and fairies. 

"Just be ready!" Navi rolled her eyes, her aura flickering a bit.

"Alright, Captain!" Link saluted, totally breaking the moment.

"Just move forward, you big dope." Navi bopped him on the head, successfully getting the guy to move faster. Link didn't seem to mind, and blissfully ignored Navi's flickering, annoyed aura.

_To the witches…_

"You should be ready, boy." Kotake turned to Kurama, who just shut his eyes in smirked a totally un-Kurama like manner. 

"Calling me 'boy' wouldn't be quite right, hm?" Kurama said, his voice more like a hiss than anything else. Then, his Spirit pendent began to glow a greenish color and in a flash of green light, there was a Spirit summon, like Katara and Kaori's, standing next to him loyally.

His was a fox-wolf like creature, mainly colored in shades of green, brown, and black. Its fur looked silky and beautiful, so soft-looking that anyone would want to reach out and pet it. Around its neck was a black and green collar that looked metal and adorned with a unique jewel design. There was also a green jewel amongst the fur on its head, as if it were a part of its body. The tail was long and flowing, like a fox's, and mainly seemed to be a bright shade of green. It's piercing gold eyes stared onward, awaiting its master's orders.

"Hm, using that, eh?" Kotake grinned, amused with how much the situation grew. "Alright, then."

Meanwhile, Nabooru observed all from her prison, wherever it was, and stared at the strange summon in awe. _What is that and how did he summon that? What did the witches do to him? _

_**Back to the group, who might actually get somewhere this time…**_

"So, what's beyond this door?" Link poked a door covered in regular chains. They had picked up the boss key, but hadn't found any doors adorned with the signature gold chains of the boss of the temple. 

"Well, opening it might be the start of figuring that out." Aya crossed her arms, tapping her fingers on her forearm. She seemed fidgety.

"Are you okay?" Kaori cocked her head at the Spirit of Light.

"Fine, but suddenly uncomfortable." Aya responded.

"Me, too." Katara nodded in agreement.

"Well, open the door, Link!" Navi said angrily. "We're not going to get any farther if you just stand and stare at it. 

"Alright!" Link pulled out the last small key they had on them and unlocked the door, the chains dropping to the ground. "I feel weird now. Something bad is going to happen…"

"Uh-huh…" Joey glared at the door. "Those witches have pulled something bad."

"Duh. Let's go." Katara grabbed his arm. "Let's see what they have in store for us now."

"Okay!" Link pushed the door open and there was a "creaking" sound that echoed through the creepy, empty temple. They all froze in unison when the found what was on the other side.

Standing there was a large Iron Knuckle that stood ominously tall in front of them, gargantuan battle ax in hand. And on the left of him was a creepy-looking, golden eyed Kurama that seemed to barely regard their presence as surprising. He actually smirked a bit as the witches flew around in the background. Navi then looked the wolf-fox thing at his side, signaling in Navi's mind that the redhead, whatever was wrong with him, had definitely awakened his summon already.

"I think…these two are our opponents…" Joey said hesitantly staring back to the witches who let out cackling at their expense. It appeared they wouldn't waste their energy on them, as they seemed sure that their new "toys" could be plenty enough to rid the heroes.

"Have fun, kids!" Koume cackled. "You're opponents have been waiting."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Aya said. Frankly, she didn't want to fight Kurama or the Iron Knuckle, let alone both at the same time. 

"It's like what happened with me almost." Katara mentioned, readying her hand in an attack position. "We have to fight Kurama. Maybe we can snap him out of it." 

"This may be more difficult than just beating Kurama back to normal." Navi said, her voice flat. "Just fight and be ready. Split up!"

"What?" Joey exclaimed, shooting a glance at the fairy like she was insane.

"What do you mean?" Link was shocked too, Master Sword and Mirror Shield in hand.

"How many languages do you want me to say it in?" Navi flashed her aura. "Two take on Kurama and three, the Iron Knuckle, or vice versa, you choose, but make it quick. The Iron Knuckle's got his battle ax ready to kill you all in one foul swoop." 

"I'll take the big guy." Joey formed his sword in a flash of flames. "Who wants to join me?" Joey ran forward, starting the battle. It was as if he didn't want to fight his friend (since he didn't enjoy fighting any of his friends, really). 

"I'll help Joey." Katara formed some ice shards. "Aya, Link, and Kaori can handle Kurama…You'll probably need three."

"I'll handle both…" Kaori pulled out her bow. "Both groups will need help."

With that the battle officially started without a hitch. Link clashed with Kurama, who formed his vine-sword in an instant, and Aya began to ready a light spell to strike their friend. Navi didn't really know Kurama's weakness, but stuck to Link's side like the fairy companion that she was, and tried to figure something out. Anything would have been helpful. Kaori did her best with wind spells in the back, and made an effort to start casting Nayru's Love, the Great Fairy's spell, on Link when he needed it. 

In Joey's battle, he was having very little luck. The Iron Knuckle was stronger and faster than it was five years earlier, which didn't make sense to Joey since it should have been _easier_ since he was an adult now. Katara was throwing out ice shards like nobody's business, but the Iron Knuckle tossed Joey aside like a rag doll and slammed its battle ax down towards Katara, who narrowly missed getting sliced clean in half by the gargantuan suit of armor.

"Damn!" Joey cursed, running forward and blasting the Iron Knuckle with an explosion of fire, giving Katara a chance to retreat and cast more water and ice spells. "You annoying bastard!" Joey tried to put proper words together while he slashed the armor mindlessly. 

"Oh, snap out of it Kurama!" Link half-whined, though worry was evident in his tone. "Where's the sane dude who told me that the cow demons weren't out to get me?" 

"I highly doubt bringing up that fond memory is going to fix anything." Navi remarked dryly. Aya let out another light spell, successfully hitting the redhead. Kurama did stumble, but gracefully regained his balance and whirled around, slashing both Link and Aya in on slash before jumping up and back in a fast and inhuman motion.

"Navi?" Aya asked, picking up her sword. "I know there are the eyes, but Kurama seems a lot more different fighting him. He's way faster than before…like a blur. He seems…inhuman?"

"Inhuman might be a good way of putting it." Navi said while Aya threw out another blast of light energy. "He was always faster than Link and Joey, but not enough to make him seem really inhuman. He was a great jumper, which was off."

"I don't know." Aya said, jumping aside and getting a small, but albeit a hit, on Kurama before running back and starting the casting spell all over again. 

"Maybe he was hinting something all along…" Aya mused, casting another light spell to hit Kurama. Link and Kurama were now in a slashing frenzy with each other, and at the moment, neither Aya nor Kaori really mattered in the battle at the moment. While Link was total idiot most of the time, he was skilled with a sword, and the skill showed when he dodged Kurama's attacks. At the moment, both were skillfully matched.

Joey and Katara were still running low on luck when it came to destroying the Iron Knuckle. Katara's ice shards had done a fairly decent amount of damage, and she was focused on piercing a hole in the armor, casting and aiming at the same spot. Joey started slashing in that spot, trying to weaken it down, but the monster's battle ax kept swooping down and taking hits out of Joey. Now, Joey felt that he was still lucky that his arm was still attached to his body.

"Are we having any luck?" Katara said, holding her bleeding shoulder while focusing another ice attack. 

"I don't know." Joey jumped out of the way of another attack. "I need something more than just ice shards, Kat."

"What are you implying?" Katara stopped her casting. 

"What about your summon? You know the mermaid thing?" Joey suggested, slashing another attack at the back of the Iron Knuckle. 

"I can try. It would help, I guess." Katara seemed unsure of herself, especially after the incidents of the Water Temple. "But what…if…I do that and…"

"Don't have any doubts right now, Kat!" Joey yelled over the clash of his sword with the Iron Knuckle's battle ax. "We can't afford those!"

"But what about that alter ego?" She yelled, too.

"It's a risk you have to be willing to make!" Joey yelled again. "Please, Kat! That might actually give us an edge here! We're not having any luck!" 

"Alright…I'll try…" Katara said, shutting her blue eyes. _For you, I'll try Joey. _She began to focus hard, ignoring everything else. Then, her pendent began to glow blue and out of a flash of light there was the mermaid, floating above her gracefully. "Go!" Katara ordered it. The mermaid nodded its head and flew forward, headfirst into the Iron Knuckle. The strength of its hit pierced the breastplate in a flurry of water, ice, and chipped metal. The breastplate hung by a thread. 

"Go again!" Katara had her hand in front of her, throwing a few ice shards of her own. The mermaid obeyed and dive bombed the Iron Knuckle again, knocking the breast plate off, and it clattered to the ground and slid across the floor. Now, the chain mail skirt was more visible.

"Great job, Kat!" Joey acknowledged and began slashing again. The mermaid retreated to Katara's side, awaiting another attack. 

"Joey, can you try to summon yours?" Katara asked, focusing a water attack on the somewhat weakened Iron Knuckle. 

"I could try…" Joey shrugged. "But I don't know how far we'd get when I don't know what my summon is."

"Not to sound redundant and cheesy, but you could still try." Katara winked.

Back with the Kurama battle, Link and Kurama were still evenly matched, and now Kurama had brought the summon into the fray, and Link was outmatched. Aya began throwing her light attacks on the fox-wolf and Kaori began to throw her wind attacks at it too, not shooting it with an arrow in fear of killing it or whatever. Kurama and Link just continued to slash away.

"Kurama!" Link said desperately. He was getting increasingly worn out just trying to keep up with Kurama, let alone counter his occasional flurry of slashes and earth magic-combo that he kept doing in no pattern whatsoever.

"Navi!" Aya called. "What do we do?"

"Uh, fight and don't die is what I'd normally say…" Navi trailed off. "Find a way to snap him out of it. What you need is to counter his summon. I think whatever energy Kurama is on right now, that dog is feeding off of it. Kaori, you need to summon your bird. Aya, you just need to figure out what your summon is!"

"How do I do that?" Aya blasted the dog with light magic. 

"Good question! Figure it out!" Navi snapped a bit. 

"I can try, but…" Aya turned.

"You want to fix Kurama, right?" the fairy asked.

"Yes…I want to fix him." Aya nodded.

"Then figure out your summoning!" 

"I'll try…" Aya nodded, and began to concentrate (much better at it than Joey was at the moment, since he too, was trying to figure out his summon.) In the meantime, Link cast Din's Fire for the first time in forever and blasted Kurama with it, who got hit, but not enough to stagger him or the dog. Kaori had summoned her bird and sent it full force to clash with the dog and now both were dueling each other off to the side. The fox-wolf dog was now distracted from the battle.

"Smart." Kurama's hiss-like tone said, slashing Link, who was standing from Din's Fire. Kaori shot a barrage of arrows, of which Kurama dodged. It gave the Spirit of Wind a chance to throw a few more wind spells though. 

"I think I have it!"

Joey was concentrating as hard is it was humanly possible to concentrate, and he began to feel kind of warm inside (not the cuddly kind of feeling either.) Was this how it felt to start summoning something or was he dying? 

Luckily it was the former and not the ladder.

"Yeah! Take this, dude!" Joey threw his hand in the air in a semi-melodramatic pose, just because he could, his pendent glowing red, and in a flash of red light, a flaming dragon-like creature popped out from behind him a surprise.

The dragon was large and serpent like, with piercing orange eyes with slits, much similar to a cat's than a lizard's, and it was bright shades of flaming orange, red, and yellow. Its underbelly was yellow and the scales on its side were sparkly and seemed multicolored as the red and orange reflected light. It had long, sharp claws that looked rather intimidating and its tail flowed out and long, like a flame. It had a silver and gold headpiece and a mane of completely fire.

"Ha!" Joey thrust his hand forward, and the dragon nodded and screamed forward in a blaze of fire, slamming into the Iron Knuckle head first. The Iron Knuckle staggered a bit this time, mindlessly swinging its battle ax in a flurry of confusion.

"Help Joeys' dragon!" Katara ordered her mermaid and it nodded, too, flying forward in a flurry of ice and water and clashed with the Iron Knuckle at the same time the dragon did. Both creatures flew back and the Spirits of Water and Fire hit it with its own attacks. Joey ran forward and slashed what was left of its arm plates and shoulder pads off while Katara blasted it with countless ice shards.

Meanwhile, Aya had just finished concentrating and now her pendant was glowing. In a flash of yellow light, much similar to everyone else, Aya had summoned a fairy-like creature.

It was different yet similar to Katara's mermaid. It had bright yellow eyes and light blue wings that were shimmering with shades of yellow and silver in them. She had long black hair that was shiny and very long. She had long nails that where like claws, and she was adorned in gold, clanking bracelets and large gold choker necklace and several gold chains on her neck. Her dress was a simple light blue and yellow dress and she was barefooted with a gold chain wrapped around her left ankle. Her eyes were a bright yellow color, but not cat like…

"Uh…go!" Aya just guessed and ordered it at Kurama, who looked up with a slight moment of shock. It dove headfirst at the redhead, knocking him back without much of a second thought. 

"Holy cow!" Link said shocked. He stepped out of the way, but realized his chance and ran back headfirst after the fairy and began slashing Kurama while Kaori cast Nayru's love on him again. Link finished his combo with a burst of Din's Fire and Aya summoned the fairy back to her side. 

"I think we're finally at an edge people!" Navi seemed reassured. _I'm still impressed at their teamwork, as uncharacteristically cheesy and stupid that is coming from me… _Navi thought to herself and looked on as Kurama flung Link aside, this time, knocking him out. _Someone finally broke through that skull of steel he has… _Navi was slightly shocked but flew to Aya's side and Kaori ran to Link's dragging him a ways off and putting her bow at the ready. 

"Aya, you're alone now!" Navi warned. 

"I knew that." Aya was a bit shocked at Kurama in her face. She just gulped a bit and began to clash with him a bit. 

"Do something to snap him out of it." Navi was on her shoulder, whispering in his ear. "I think he's slowed down."

"He seems more hesitant, doesn't he?" Aya questioned.

"Yeah, blast him with the fairy a few more times!" Navi seemed anxious. 

"Crap! Go!" Joey was having the slightest bit of fun sending his dragon out, and ironically enough, his dragon seemed to enjoy it every bit as much as he did. 

"Don't overexert yourself, moron." Katara warned. They were only a few seconds way from defeating the Iron Knuckle, albeit at a price. Both were warned out and were bleeding from various areas. The Kurama battle seemed to have been narrowed down to Aya, her summon, and Kurama. Link was knocked and Kaori was guarding him, and Kurama and Kaori's summons were fighting in the corner. 

"Oh my Din…" Joey's shocked half-whisper caught Katara's attention. She turned to see that Joey's dragon had blasted off the face-plate, and the helmet had clattered to the ground. 

"Nabooru!" Katara gasped. It was indeed their Gerudo friend, a few years older. Her eyes were glazed over but she radiated an aura of desperation. The battle ax clattered to the ground and the rest of the armor slid off. Nabooru collapsed to the ground in a mindless, graceless heap. Katara and Joey ran to their friend.

"Kurama!" Aya snapped. She was annoyed now. She wanted Kurama back. She didn't like the inhuman, creepy Kurama. She wanted normal, sane Kurama back. The one that told Link that the cow demons weren't out to get him and put up with their random oddities and put up with her and her sarcasm. She was going to beat that Kurama back into him if at all possible.

"Kurama! I'm getting you back." Aya clashed with him. In a whirlwind of slashes, Kurama had Aya on the wall, sword to her, though he seemed sort of weak.

"Kurama, I never thought I'd call you this, but you moron!" Aya exclaimed, and that seemed to shock him a bit. "Go!" The fairy slammed into this back, and Aya blasted his arm with a flash of light magic. 

"…" Kurama clenched his eyes shut. "…"

"Kurama?" Aya questioned carefully, and the fairy flew back a few paces. "Kurama!"

"…………" Kurama was silent, but she felt a good feeling when the vine sword slowly disappeared. His hands were trembling slightly as he seemed to fight something in his mind. After a minute of that, the quarrel between the fox-wolf and bird came to an end and the wolf altogether quit attacking, calming down to a loyal-dog like status of behavior. Link, who was now awake, looked at this with Kaori, a look of hope on his face that this might end. It went over next to the fairy, loyally standing behind Kurama. Kurama then opened his eyes, staring at Aya. To her luck, they were green.

"Kurama!" Aya exclaimed.

"Hello, Aya…" Kurama smiled a bit. "Sorry to say, but I never thought…you'd call me a moron."

**A/n: **There you have it. Sorry the battle is so long and random, but at least the summons are all in. I hope they fit the element and the characters. (The fairy doesn't quite fit Aya, but the look of it, in my mind, is cool). 

Yes, I tried to have Nabooru coherent during the period before the battle, but once it started, she didn't get a word in edgewise. The "aura of desperation" should have said enough that normal Nabooru was in their somewhere.

I figured a not-so-cheesy way (and random) way of ending Kurama would have been Aya calling him a moron, since how many people call him that? Besides, it works. Everything will continue to be explained next chapter. Kurama won't collapse since because how cliché is that? 


	44. Medallion of Spirit Part 6

A/n: So…Uh…I'm back…

**A/n: **So…Uh…I'm back…. Yay? Not many reviewed to last chapter, but at this point, I'm ready to just finish this, so I'll be posting chapters, not really expecting reviews any more. Let's just continue on, shall we?

**Disclaimer:** Uh…I still don't own Zelda…There…

**Chapter 44:** **Medallion of Spirit Part 6**

The witches had disappeared, leaving the heroes to their own devices for the time being. Everyone was still worn out from the previous debacle, and no one really could work up the courage (or energy) to say anything. They had also managed to pry Nabooru out of the Iron Knuckle armor, and she was sort of coming in and out of consciousness, but was fine nonetheless.

"Uh…" Joey broke the silence. He was slumped against one of the remaining pillars in the room, thoroughly worn out after fighting Nabooru/Iron Knuckle and summoning this dragon. "What do we do now?"

"Wait." Navi responded, slumped on Link's head. "I really don't feel like going farther in, and I don't think we should do anything yet."

"Those witches really know how to screw with your heads, that's for sure." Joey remarked, leaning his head back against the wall.

"I apologize for the trouble." Kurama spoke up. His composure was back to the calm, cool Kurama they all knew and loved, and he let out a small sigh after speaking. "I didn't realize that would have become a problem, but I should have figured better."

"What are you talking about?" Aya turned, along with everyone else (and Nabooru, who was now fully conscious.)

"Well…" Kurama let out another sigh, as if trying to figure out how to explain. "I'm sure by now at least Navi figured it out, right?"

"Yep." Navi agreed. "You're not human, are you?"

"Wait…what?" Joey turned to Navi like she was insane.

"Uh…" Katara just rubbed the back of her head, confused.

"Precisely." Kurama nodded, shaking a head at Joey. "Don't freak out quite yet, Joey. To get straight to the point, as I don't think we have the time for an in-depth explanation about this, I'm not human; I'm a demon."

"A demon?" Link cocked his head. "As in those dark thingamabobs that eat people?"

"Oh, shut it you idiot!" Navi bonked him on the head. "Does Kurama look like he's a dark thingamabob that will eat you?"

"He did earlier…But not saying that he's evil or anything…Oh…I give up." Link whimpered.

"Ignore him." Navi turned to the redhead.

"No offense taken…It's a common misconception." Kurama raised his hand. "Anyways, to be more specific, I'm a fox demon."

"Foxes are cool." Aya chimed, nodding with the rest of the girls (who seemed to be minimally fazed by this sudden change of events.)

"Foxes are cute!" Kaori squealed in her usual "oh-look-that's-cute" manner.

"Well, that's one way to look at it." Kurama smiled. "It appears that over the course of these five years, the witches managed to tap into the demonic part of my mind, but you all seemed to be the trick in fixing me. For that, I thank you. And apologize again."

"Don't keep apologizing!" Aya declared. "It's not your fault. Besides, we don't seem to be fazed by it."

"Oh, I'm bleeding...I think…cool…" Link was distracted, looking at a cut on his finger.

"That was just slightly demented." Katara turned.

"But I am…" Link turned. "I just didn't realize it."

"Are you okay, Joey?" Kurama turned to the Spirit of Fire. "I hope I haven't made you uncomfortable."

"Nope. Just one thing…You aren't going to eat me or anything like that if I piss you off?" the blonde turned, half-jokingly.

"If he does make you angry, I give you full permission to eat him." Katara piped with Navi nodding.

"Hey, who made you the boss of me?" Joey whined.

"No one did. I just said he could eat you." Katara shrugged. Kurama just shook his head.

"Don't worry Joey; I don't plan on reducing to cannibalism anytime soon." Kurama sighed again.

"Oh! Is that where people eat people?" Link turned around in a too-enthusiastic manner.

"Can we please stop talking about eating people?" Navi said angrily.

"Please, it's grossing me out." Kaori squeaked.

"Thank you." Navi then turned to their Gerudo friend, who was sitting up and laughing a bit at them. "How are you Nabooru?"

"Yes, how are you, since you were stuck with the witches all this time, too." Kaori asked.

"I don't remember much, like him." Nabooru pointed to Kurama. "What I do remember is that the witches performed weird experiments on us."

"That had to have sucked." Navi was as blunt as always.

"But I don't want to relive that, so I have another question. Who in the hell are you people?" Nabooru asked, pointing a finger at all of them. "You guys just can't be normal travelers! _Normal_ travelers don't summon weird animals!"

"Well aside from the Kurama-demon thing, we do have a lot of explaining to do." Joey turned.

"Oh! We're hero-people! And we're led by Captain Teapot and his tea strainer of justice! And his tea tastes like jasmine and chamomile, whatever that is! That's why he's Captain Teapot! Because his tea tastes good and he rids the world of nasty evil teabags!!" Link was standing, throwing his finger in the air in a Mister Universe like pose. He kind of looked like a pointy eared, retarded looking Hercules in a green tunic.

"…" the group was silent.

"Dude the part about his tea tasting like jasmine and chamomile was just wrong." Joey chuckled a bit.

"What? His tea has to taste good! He's Captain Teapot!" Link had the naïve expression of a child on his face.

"I say that next time we see Sheik, we should say that his tea tastes like jasmine and chamomile." Joey proposed.

"I put even more a stick up his ass?" Aya turned. "He'll just think we're even more worthless of heroes than he already does."

"Oh, Sheik can get over himself." Navi flashed a bit. "He only looks constipated half the time."

"Are you saying that he's grumpy?" Kaori laughed.

"Cool! Does that mean Captain Teapot has to use the bathroom when he's grumpy?" Link asked enthusiastically.

"He probably goes to the bathroom a lot, then." Aya looked off to the side.

"We're still not explaining anything to Nabooru; I'd like to point out." Kurama finally spoke, and it was suddenly nice to have the voice of reason back. "We're making ourselves sound more pathetic."

"Oh! We were explaining the hero-time-teapot-warping-princess-ocarina thing!!" Link cheered. "So anyways! Captain Teapot sent out his ultra-super-lemon flavored military force to-"

"Shut up, you nincompoop!" Navi bonked him on the head.

"Ow!!" Link whined, putting his hands to the back of his head. "That hurt! A lot!"

"It was supposed to hurt. Remember the Ocarina threat?" the fairy seethed.

"Oh, where you said you'd shove the ocarina up somewhere where it'd hurt?" Link cocked his head before finally catching on. "Oh…wait…I'll be quiet."

"You all are a strange bunch." Nabooru seemed a bit taken aback, though amused at the kids' antics.

"We're surprisingly nasty today." Joey shrugged. "My kind of conversation."

"Yeah, perfect for a pervert like you." Katara remarked. "Anyway, where would you like us to start Nabooru?"

"Oh, you weren't started already?" Nabooru replied half-sarcastically.

"Alright. Ignore Link." Navi started. "Have you ever heard of the legends of the Hero of Time and the Spirits?"

"Yeah. It said that long, long ago, a hero wielded the Master Sword in the name of the Goddesses and saved Hyrule and the Sacred Realm with the help of five elemental masters. That's how I've heard it, at least. What does lore have to do with this?"

"Well, one thing that's not known is that the Goddesses chose six people to take over these roles when Hyrule was again in peril; that six people would wield those powers and save the land when they were needed again." Navi continued. "You see six kids here, right?"

"…" Nabooru stopped. "Ha! Wait a minute, six people… Are you trying to tell me that you all, as random and unfocused as you are, are the Heroes from long ago? That can't be."

"It's true." Navi explained. "In the time of Ganondorf's reign come six heroes."

"Unfortunately, it's true." Joey sighed. "I was wondering if there was some sort of mix up."

"I hope not, or we all would have nearly died a hundred times for nothing." Aya sighed.

"I don't think the Goddesses make mistakes nor do they make refunds." Navi turned before going back to Nabooru.

"It's is a matter of fact." Kurama smiled. "It's hard to believe, though."

"Yep. You're looking at Hyrule's Hero of Time and Spirits." Navi gestured.

"Is he the Hero of Time? The leader?" Nabooru pointed at Link who was staring at a bloodstain on the wall that he swore looked like Rauru.

"Well…uh…Yeah." Joey sighed. "Hard to believe, isn't it? He has all the attention span of a hyperactive puppy."

"He probably was a hyperactive puppy in a past life." Aya agreed. "We're the Spirits. That's why we summoned those animal-things."

"Oh, so you all are the guardians of Sacred Realm or whatever? Are the legends true? Do you really guard it?" Nabooru inquired.

"Uh…I guess we do something like it." Kaori turned. "That's our initial job, but are we really doing it right now?"

"From what I forced out of that tight-ass Sheikah we call Sheik, he said that you all are 'connected' to the Sacred Realm and therefore, you are still guarding it." Navi explained.

"And it's our other job to aid Link in his journey, anyways." Kurama pointed out the other half of the legend.

"How many times have you forced crap out of Sheik?" Joey asked.

"Sheik is tight?" Link asked.

"Shut up, dude. You're not winning any points here." Joey stopped the Hero of Time.

"Pervert." Katara rolled her eyes at Joey.

"Who said I was being perverted?" Joey whimpered.

"Ignoring the lovers' quarrel, I've only gotten stuff out of him once, and that was that time we camped out after the Water Temple. That's all." Navi responded.

"It's hard to imagine that a bunch of weird kids like you are the saviors of legend." Nabooru stared. "Are sure you're not stealing someone else's gig?"

"We're pretty sure. Unless we were all conveniently given the ability to summon animals at birth, which is highly doubtful." Aya explained. "Though Link is questionable."

"Well, that has to be true, too, seeing as how Link pulled out the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time. Only the Hero of Time could do that, right?" Katara turned.

"Yes, sadly enough. But he's our idiot, so we'll put up with it." Navi said.

"So, that's a rather hard story to believe." Nabooru had a hand on her chin. "If you're all heroes and such, why did you come to the Spirit Temple? You mentioned a Water Temple earlier…"

"We came here to find one of the Sages." Aya chimed.

"Yeah! The Sages are the dudes who do that one stuff…" Link trailed off.

"What?" Nabooru turned to everyone else.

"One of the Seven Sages." Navi explained. "The only one we have left that we were told to find is the Sage of Spirit. We've found Light, Forest, Fire, Water, and Shadow."

"Wait, with Spirit, that's six. Who's the Seventh Sage?" Kaori turned.

"That I don't know. I figure Rauru will know what to do when the time comes." Navi pointed out.

"Well, if we find some fairies to heal us, we can proceed." Kurama explained. "Otherwise, none of us are in the right condition to move forward."

"Hey, Navi!" Link cheered. "Can you find some of your fairy followers to heal us?"

"What do I look like? The Queen of All Fairies?" Navi said.

"Uh…. You act like it." Link whimpered.

"Is that an insult, green boy?" Navi turned.

"No…" Link whimpered again.

"Oh, whatever. I'll go find some. Might take awhile in this place, so sit tight everyone." With that said, Navi flew away.

_A little while later…_

"I've come back. With fairies…Yay." Navi cheered unenthusiastically. The little pink fairies flew around and around the injured group until all of the major wounds were cleared and energy returned to them.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Joey was standing up and adjusting his jacket.

"Sure… As long as it isn't stupid." Katara smirked.

"You love patronizing me, don't you?" Joey twitched.

"I'm not patronizing you. It must be that opposite thing again." Katara laughed.

"They do say opposites attract." Nabooru mentioned, hand on her hip.

"Ha…" Joey turned a bit red and looked off.

"Oh, quit blushing. You've all but admitted your undying love for her." Navi was on Link's head now.

"Well, he could admit it anytime." Katara whispered that where Joey couldn't here.

"Yeah, jeez! He's making you wait so long." Aya laughed along with Kaori and Katara.

"Anyway…Back to that suggestion." Joey quickly changed the subject. "Can we go forward, find the boss key, and kick those witches' asses?"

"I like that idea!!" Link cheered. "Let's go!" Link paraded through the next entrance blindly…as usual.

"I'm angry, too. Can I help you all?" Nabooru turned to the remaining group (Joey charged ahead with Link.)

"All the help is appreciated." Kurama shrugged. "Feel free to give them as big a piece of your mind as you wish."

"You damn well bet I will." Nabooru charged on.

The rest of the crew followed after Link, Joey, and Nabooru, farther into the Goddess-forsaken temple and ready to beat those witches…

**A/n:** Abrupt place to end this chapter, but the boss battle should by in the beginning of the next chapter, no? Besides putting a boss battle after all of that a conversation is kind of like overkill. So…Moving on!

REVIEW!! (please?)


	45. Medallion of Spirit Part 7

A/n: Okay…so here's the Koume/Kotake battle/end of Spirit Temple chapter

**A/n:** Okay…so here's the Koume/Kotake battle/end of Spirit Temple chapter. The Koume/Kotake fight's a bit off, but battles were never the strong point of this story. Besides things will change with everyone else here, including Nabooru, whom I know isn't supposed to be here. But neither were the rest of the Sages and their battles…Whatever.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Zelda…You knew this already, though.

**Chapter 45: Medallion of Spirit Part 7**

"So, are the witches beyond this door?" Joey turned to Navi while Link poked the big, ominous door in curiosity.

"Who else do you think is beyond it?" Navi asked sarcastically back.

"I don't know. Another one of those damned Iron Knuckle things. I'm really sick of those guys." Joey twitched.

"Sorry about that." Nabooru said somewhat jokingly. "I didn't really want to be one. If I was coherent during that whole mess I probably would've been complaining about how uncomfortable it was."

"It looked uncomfortable and sweaty." Katara mentioned.

"That's beside the point." Navi interrupted. "Yes. The witches are beyond that door. And we can go in and get this over with at any time."

"Link, you have the boss key." Kurama turned the green-clad hero. "Open the door."

"Oh!! The gold-key-thing!" Link pulled out the key and unlocked the gold chains on the door and the fell limp to floor. "Let's go!" The group walked into the room, which was a large room with several humongous platforms. On the middle one was a ladder that led to the top of it. Link was the first to charge to the ladder and slowly but surely, everyone climbed up it and stared around, spotting the familiar witch-twins.

"It seems our toys have regained their senses, Kotake." Koume said, flying around in the heroes in a circle.

"What a shame, Koume." Kotake responded, flying around them in the opposite direction.

"You old, ugly hags!" Joey was the first to speak up. "We're going to get you for the crap you put Kurama and Nabooru through!"

"I can't believe I was controlled by you two for all this time!" Nabooru seethed. "I can't believe I was an experiment on behalf of Ganondorf, that horrid man!" The witches ear-piercing cackles echoed through the large room.

"You've served your purpose, you wench!" Koume responded, her voice an evil lilt.

"Wench?" Nabooru had her fists clenched and the party could swear they saw her eye twitching, too. "I'm the wench?"

"Calm down, Nabooru." Kaori begged. "Don't get angry now."

"Oh, I'll calm down." The Gerudo thief responded in slightly cold tone.

"It appears we'll have to take care of these nuisances ourselves, Koume." Kotake flew over to her sister. In a flash, a mane of blue was coming out of her head, like hair. Koume countered with a red mane of fire. "Prepare yourselves!" The battle had begun.

"Navi, what do we do?" Joey had his fire-sword out, and Link was standing next to him at the ready, Master Sword and Mirror Shield in hand.

"Well..." Navi flew around, trailing off and observing the witches. "There aren't many weak spots with these two. But they're each weak against their polar element."

"So Kotake's ice is weak against fire and Koume is vice versa?" Aya asked.

"Bingo." Navi said. "Oh, Link. Kotake is behind you!"

"Holy Nayru!!" Link whirled around in a dreadfully ungraceful manner and barely blocked a blast of ice with the Mirror Shield. The shield was glowing blue and absorbed the attack. "Holy Nayru, again!! The shield-thing absorbed the attack!"

"Uh…Is it supposed to do that?" Nabooru turned.

"I don't know. Keep absorbing it." Navi said. "It's better than becoming an ice sculpture."

"Those are pretty." Link spaced off.

"Link! Witches! Focus!!" Kaori scolded, notching an arrow into place. She fused it with some magic, creating an ice arrow that she blasted at Koume when she was throwing a fire attack at Katara. Koume screeched a bit and Katara took the chance to blast her with some ice of her own.

"You wretch!" She threw a fire attack at Kaori that knocked her down for a second, but she stumbled back into the place after a minute. In the middle of all of this, Link had blocked about three blasts of ice from Kotake. Kotake flew over him and started at another person, and Koume flew over ready to attack. Link merely put up the Mirror Shield and a blast of blue came out with the strength of all of Kotake's attacks. Koume let out a scary shriek and flew back a bit.

"That was totally awesome!!" Link cheered in triumph.

"Okay, so continue doing that." Navi seemed a bit shocked at the display, but went along with it.

"Take that, you annoying witch!!" Joey continued the string of attacks and sent a sizeable fire ball at Kotake, causing her to screech as well. At the same time, Kaori shot a fire arrow at her.

"Koume!!" Kotake seethed. It's time to settle this!"

"Oh, that?" Koume flew over to Kotake. They began to fly circles around each other and suddenly there was a large flash of blue and red. "Our special attack!!" Emerging from the light was a large, scantily dressed woman with dark skin and a contrasting style. On one side, she was Kotake, with blue and her broom fashioned as a staff. On the other side, it was Koume, with the red broom as a staff.

"What the hell is that?" Nabooru asked.

"Uh…An old slut formed from two really ugly, wrinkly witches?" Aya remarked, readying her sword again.

"So, whatever. She's still an old broad." Nabooru twitched again. She did a full-body twitch when the newly formed witch winked and giggled. "Eew…That's all I have to say."

"This beats Ruto by a landslide." Joey remarked.

"I don't want to know what you mean by that." Katara rolled her eyes.

"It's big!!" Link broke the moment.

"Shut up, dude." Joey sighed.

"Link, ignore that and just focus on beating her." Kurama shook his head.

"That's Twinrova." Navi said. "That's what forms when the two sisters fuse together. She kind of sucks to battle but it's still the same deal. This time we should stun her with the opposite of the attacks she throws at us. You should know the rest."

"Thanks. That was helpful." Joey turned.

"Oh, crap!! It's fire!!" Link threw up the Mirror Shield in defense. It absorbed the fire.

"Take that!" Katara blasted her with ice and Kaori shot another ice arrow. Twinrova fell over in a stunned heap.

"Oh, you're going down, bitch!" Nabooru ran forward before anyone could really stop her and she began slashing over and over again. "Don't ever call me a wench again!!"

"I want to help!" Joey joined in the fray and soon everyone had given a fair share of attacks. Twinrova flew back up in the air.

"I think doing that a couple of more time should do the trick." Navi said.

"AH! FROZEN STUFF!" Link yelled and ungracefully held up the Mirror Shield; blasting it with the fire he had absorbed earlier to counter the water. Joey took his turn to strengthen the blow with more fire. Kaori shot her fire arrow, and Twinrova crumpled to the ground again. Everyone began to slash her, Nabooru and Kurama getting to Twinrova's crumpled body first, since they were the fastest. After repeating the process a few more times, ice and fire, ice and fire, Twinrova screamed and finally de-fused back into Koume and Kotake.

"Haloes?" Katara questioned, kneeling on the ground with everyone else, staring up at the defeated witches.

"Haloes my ass." Nabooru twitched again. "That's not fair."

"Maybe it's just a joke." Kaori suggested.

"I can't die yet! I'm only 400 years old!" Koume cried in despair.

"I'm only 380 years old! I can't die!" Kotake cried as well.

"Don't lie! We're twins!" They're arguing faded away as they disappeared and a blue portal was left in their wake.

"Only 400 years old?" Kaori cocked an eyebrow.

"Sounds pretty old to me." Aya shrugged. "But what do I know?"

"As invigorating as that was, Nabooru disappeared." Kurama pointed to where their Gerudo friend was. He was now standing with his hands casually in his pockets, as usual.

"Does that mean she's the Sage?" Joey turned.

"NO! The abyss took her!!" Link cried out in a melodramatic manner.

"No!" Navi bonked the goofy Hero on the head and he squeaked. "Go to the portal! Now!" Link obeyed the angry fair and the party stepped into the blue portal, ending up in the familiar Chamber of Sages.

"You know?" Nabooru popped up on the orange platform. "Who knew that I was the Sage of Spirit you all were looking for?"

"I figured after awhile that you were probably who we were looking for." Kurama shrugged.

"I guess that makes sense since the witches kidnapped you first." Kaori tapped her chin.

"Well, anyway." Nabooru had her hands on her hips. "I thank you for everything, kids. Can I still call you that?"

"Sure." Link cheered. "Kids!"

"I really appreciate your help." Nabooru smiled. "I never properly thanked you for saving me from the witches."

"You are our friend!" Link declared. "How can we leave our friends in need? Of course we'd save you!" Link's intention was sweet.

"You know, if I wasn't so much older, I'd totally hit on you three." Nabooru was honest and the three girls and Navi laughed a bit. Joey was a bit red, as was Link, but Kurama was about as calm as he always was.

"Thanks?" Joey pointed to himself. "What? Am I hot or something?"

"Hm…I'll let you figure that out." Nabooru placed a hand on her hip, fiddling with a strand of red hair in the other. "I thought you'd declare it yourself, being the egotist and all."

"I'm not egotistical!" Joey whined.

"And I don't use water magic." Katara rolled her eyes again.

"Listen, I'm going to entrust this medallion to you kids. I'll continue to help you, from here!" Nabooru chuckled. "Take this!" An orb of orange light floated down to Link and turned into the Spirit Medallion, causing him to rant for a minute about how shiny it was. "Good luck, kids!" Nabooru laughed. "Don't die or anything! Oh, and you girls are lucky gals!"

"We know!!" Katara winked, and suddenly the all the platforms in the chamber glowed and they found themselves facing the yellow platform, with a familiar robed figure waiting for them.

"Rauru!" they all cried.

"Wait…everyone!" Joey looked around. Aside from Rauru, every Sage they had found was standing on each of their platforms: Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and the newly found Nabooru.

"You've done admirably so far, heroes!" Rauru congratulated.

"Hm, maybe I should reconsider." Ruto contemplated.

"Reconsider what?" Nabooru turned, confused.

"Her engagement to Joey." Saria pointed out matter-of-factly.

"She was engaged to you?" Nabooru turned to Joey, astonished.

"Uh…." Joey scratched his cheek.

"Let's not relive that, shall we Joey?" Katara's eyes glinted.

"Of course not…" Joey trailed off.

"Anyways, heroes!" Rauru called out. "You've collected the Sages. But you must go face the one who is waiting for you before you go to Ganondorf. Go the Temple of Time when you're ready. They await you there!"

"Don't die, again!" Nabooru called out as the heroes disappeared.

"We'll continue to help you from here, brothers and sisters!" Darunia's voice boomed. At that, the heroes were back in the Desert Colossus.

"So…We're ready for Ganondorf?" Kaori turned.

"I can't believe we're that far!" Link pondered.

"Let's warp to Kakariko Village with the Nocturne of Shadow." Navi suggested. "We'll rest and recollect ourselves. Then we'll head to the Temple of Time when we're ready. We can talk there!"

Link played the mournful melody and the group disappeared in a flash of purple light.

**A/n: **There we go! We're ready for the final battle!! (Insert powerful, end-of-game-music here)

REVIEW!!


	46. Contemplation

A/n: Uh…so hi people

**A/n: **Uh…so hi people. I'm ready to finish this story, and so, I'll try to get the last chapters out as quickly as I can. So, here it goes…more chapters!

**Disclaimer:** Whatever. I'll go along with it. I don't own Zelda, kay?

**Chapter 46: Contemplation**

The Nocturne of Shadow had warped the worn-out heroes to the top ledge of the Graveyard, and after some hopping and walking; they had managed to get to the heart of the peaceful village. Now, they stood there pointlessly, waiting for an idea to come to them.

"You know, when I said 'rest and recollect', I didn't mean stand here in the middle of the village like total morons." Navi took the liberty of pointing out; resting on Link's head, as usual.

"We're not standing here like morons!" Joey groaned at the fairy.

"Well…I guess we kind of are…" Kaori pointed out, lifting a finger in the air. "Shouldn't we go to the inn now?"

"That would be what normal travelers who want to rest would do." Kurama shrugged nonchalantly. "Then, shall we move on or stand here some more?"

"I don't know, standing is just so much fun." Joey joined in with a bit of sarcasm before the party took off for the inn. After checking in with the nice innkeeper lady, they all retired to their own rooms, all of them ready to rest.

"Let's talk about what's going to happen with Ganondorf tomorrow." Navi said, sitting on Link's crumpled up hat on the nightstand.

"Oh!" Link was already on his bed and he turned to Navi. "What about that person waiting for us at the Temple of Time?"

"They can wait." Joey growled, pulling the covers over this face.

"I guess that's what they'll have to do at our rate." Kurama said, blowing out the candle.

"Yeah, whatever." The blond groaned.

"Yay! Sleeping!" Link cried out as a final goodnight call to his friends.

_The next morning……._

Morning was as usual with the group as far as the guys were concerned, anyway. Navi had woken up at almost the same time as Kurama, who was sitting on the window sill waiting for the two blonds to wake from their sleep. Navi therefore performed her usual, yelling in their ears, causing both to fall out of the bed and grumpily proceed with putting on their clothing.

"So…." Katara broke the awkward silence. The party was now eating in a little makeshift picnic near the tree outside Kakariko. They didn't feel like going to a pub or anything, so they decided outside the village in the peace of nature was a great place to talk.

"What do we do now?" Link asked, taking a giant bite of cheese bread that caused him to hack up a few crumbs.

"Hey Link!" Kaori rolled her eyes. "That's rude!"

"What?" Link asked, turning to her in a pathetically goofy way, crumbs falling to the ground and mouth full of food.

"Never mind, you're hopeless."

"Ignoring that." Navi sighed.

"I was hoping that over this journey we could improve Link's manners, but it appears to have not worked." Kaori took another bite of food.

"Obviously not." Aya smirked. "He has killer sword and ocarina skills but poor manners and a low brain capacity."

"What's a brain capacity?" Link cocked his head, setting down his bread. "Oh! Is it a machine? That sucks your brain? And uses your brainpower to power an even bigger machine that could incinerate the moon and turn the entire world in a wasteland that houses armies of the undead? And the undead are sunken-in and slimy and rubbery and love blood!" Link burst out into another random fit of maniacal laughter.

"…" the rest were silent.

"What?" Link stopped mid-laughter. "I had a dream about that last night."

"You have some strange dreams, dude." Joey munched some more of his bread. "I won't say what I dreamed about…It might be considered inappropriate." Joey smirked.

"What?" Katara turned to Joey, eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

"Hey!" Joey lifted his hands in defense. "I'm being discreet, aren't I?"

"But you're still implying that it was inappropriate!" Katara was in his face now.

"Smack down." Aya nibbled on her bread, watching the outburst in mild amusement with Kaori, Kurama, Navi, and Link, who was totally oblivious to the situation, really. He was looking at the river saying something about rainbow fish.

"It's not like I'm going to delve into the whole dream, you know!"

"I'm glad you're not going to, because I really don't want to know. But you're still such a pervert!"

"Pervert he is." Navi remarked. "The dream was probably about her."

"Most likely." Aya agreed with Kaori and Kurama nodding.

"Oh, was that the dream about Katara?" Link always joined the conversations at the most awkward of situations, like when Joey and Katara finally decided to notice the rest of them again. "Was it that dream about-"

"Okay there, Link, dude, shut up." Joey slapped a hand over the Hero of Time's mouth, causing him to wave his hands up and down and make muffled whines of protest.

"Mwa-mwah-aw-wah-awh!" He whined incoherently. "Mwhawaha mwah muyua mweews…"

"What's he saying?" Kaori cocked her head.

"Something about Katara and dreams and never mind." Navi shrugged. How she understood Link-language was a mystery. Must have been some creepy fairy-thing.

"What?" Katara asked again, this time her face turning a bright, embarrassed red.

"Well, duh." Navi remarked. "Of course Joey dreams about you. He's only madly in love with you."

"I'm not!"

"He is not!"

The two yelled simultaneously, both pointing at each other. This had caused Joey to drop Link suddenly, and the fallen hero was splayed across the ground pathetically with a red hand mark over his mouth.

"Ow…I see pretty green cuccos going…ooohhh…"

"Well that was a random situation." Navi said after a minute of silence. Everyone was back to eating and Katara and Joey were looking opposite directions.

"Listen, dudes." Navi was sitting on Link's head again. "Shouldn't we start discussing the final-battle deal?"

"Oh, yeah…Ganondorf." Link said, trailing off.

"Okay, I guess I should start this discussion, shouldn't I?" Navi mused for a moment. "I have no idea what is going to happen when we go to Ganondorf's castle and confront him. I actually don't know what the next step is."

"Isn't the next step to go and see whoever is waiting for us at the Temple of Time?" Aya asked.

"Well, I suppose." Navi sighed. "But that's not the problem."

"Then what is?" Joey asked.

"Well, we don't know whether or not Link has fully awakened the powers of the Master Sword." Navi started. "I also don't know that he'll completely awaken those powers when we finally start to fight Ganondorf."

"Well, time traveling was one of those powers, right?" Kurama mentioned. "Despite his faults, I think Link might be well on his way to mastering the sword."

"I hope so." Navi paused for a moment.

"Uh, Navi?" Kaori piped, turning. "When you talked to Sheik, did he say anything else about what the Spirits would have to do when we face Ganondorf?"

"Unfortunately, no." Navi stopped. "But if history repeats itself…"

"It can't repeat itself!" Link protested. "I don't want everyone to die. We're going to get rid of Ganondorf and no else are going to die in the process!" Link had his gauntlet-clad fists clenched.

"Don't worry about it right now, Link." Navi reassured. "There's no guarantee that Rauru and the Sages are going to ask that the others sacrifice themselves for the sake of Hyrule."

"Yeah, dude." Aya waved a hand. "We're not sure yet."

"But that's what scares me." Link trailed off again. "I don't want to go in to his tower and think that you all are going to be fine and then, when it's all over, you're all dead!"

"I hate to add to this…" Joey stopped for a moment. "But, if we defeat Ganondorf, are we returning to our worlds?"

"That is something I've never been sure of." Navi answered honestly. "I don't have any idea whether or not you'll all die and/or go home."

"Don't look that way, Link!" Kaori turned, smiling. "Let's just face it when it comes, alright?"

"Uh-huh…" Link nodded.

"How about this?" Navi proposed. "Let's all just hang out for awhile. I'll leave you all to your own devices and let you all have time to think. I need some, too, actually." Navi flew away at the nods of approval.

"Let's split up for awhile." Katara suggested. "Maybe what we all need is some time to think to ourselves. This is a big day coming up for all of us."

"I'm with her." Kurama nodded. "Let us contemplate this in our own ways."

So the party split up…

_With Joey…_

Joey had decided to wander a little ways up the Zora River, just so that he didn't have to wander around the boring village all day. He was a bit shocked at the party's decision to split apart to contemplate the upcoming debacle. Joey was never one who was good at figuring this stuff out on his own. Somehow, he just felt more confused that he did before.

"You seem confused…as always, anyways." Katara's voice broke him out of his pointless trance and he turned to see the Spirit of Water coming to sit with him at the banks of the river. "I know that the idea was to think alone, but that didn't seem to work out for me."

"Oh…" Joey nodded. "What do you think of all of this, Kat?"

"Me?" Katara stopped for a minute. "I didn't think that this…adventure would have gone this far. But I guess I'm happy that it did."

"Yeah…I am too." Joey stopped again. "Hey, Kat? Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Katara nodded at Joey's rare but sudden bout of seriousness.

"You know, I've been a bit worried about you…How have you been since the Water Temple incident?" Joey turned to her, his amber eyes meeting her blue ones.

"…." Silence followed for a minute. "Scared, maybe? I don't know if we'll see…whoever he was…Yami…Dark Link... I'm afraid that I didn't eliminate that alter ego."

"You had to have done something to get rid of it real good, Kat." His expression softened a bit. "Otherwise, she would've come out by now, right?"

"But…" she paused. "What if she's waiting until we're at Ganondorf's castle to bring it out again? I couldn't forgive myself if I were the cause of your losing against him."

"There's no guarantee."

"That's the problem! There's no guarantee that it will or will not happen. I'm kind of scared not knowing what will happen when we get there. It sounds totally cheesy of me, but I'm afraid of not knowing how all of this will end."

"Well, I guess we can only go see. But since we've come this far, it isn't fair to let the others down now. No one's gonna hold it against you if you lose it a bit, Kat. We forgave you once and we've forgiven Kurama for it, too."

"I don't want to hurt you all." Katara stared solely at the water in the river. "You've all done so much…You've done so much for me, Joey. We argue all the time, but I think I appreciate this…what do you want to call it…friendship?"

"Well, we argue enough…" Joey smirked a bit. "Eh…I appreciate having you to argue with. I look forward to our arguments almost. Maybe they're comforting. So you can't go all emo on me now when I'm just beginning to admit that I actually like you and your arguments."

"Me? You like me?"

"Well, I guess. I wouldn't be talking to you right now if I didn't, right?"

"Ha…Okay." Katara smiled, apparently more reassured than before, but Joey wasn't quite finished with this spirit-raiser.

"Listen, Kat. We'll be here for you. I'll be here for you. Can you trust me?"

"I…I trust you." Katara smiled. The now-comforted Spirit of Water leaned closer and wrapped her arms around the tall Joey as much as she could. Joey, though he seemed shocked at first, pleasantly returned the hug.

"Wow, Kat. I didn't think I'd get you this close to me." Joey's smirk was wide on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean, pervert?"

"Oh, nothing at all."

_Slap!_

"Ow! Okay, I get it! OW!"

_To Kurama and Aya…_

Aya and Kurama had decided go somewhere…not loud. Kakariko, as quaint as it was, wasn't really silent enough, so they wandered to a small, secluded part of the village, one where no one was far behind the potion shop.

"This is secluded and dark enough." Aya said in a bit of a wry manner. "We must really want quiet."

"Well, quiet is something that's hard to come by in our group, right?" Kurama smiled. "There was something that I wanted to talk about though."

"Is it about tomorrow?" she asked, leaning against one of the walls. "If so, I have no answer for whatever question you have for me."

"Well, not quite about that, but I am curious on what your thoughts on all of this are." Kurama shrugged. "What I wanted to do was apologize to you personally."

"Apologize for what? The Spirit Temple thing?" Aya lifted an eyebrow. "That wasn't your fault!"

"Well, I should've specified." He rubbed his neck. "What I meant is that I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about my origins sooner than that."

"Oh. Well, it was your business. I can understand you not mentioning it sooner than that."

"Well, I should've expected it sooner." Kurama looked off to the side. "Originally, I thought that it wouldn't be such a nuisance in another world. So, I successfully suppressed it for a long enough time until the witches apparently sensed my demonic side faltering."

"Oh, so you were having trouble with it before?" Aya crossed her arms.

"Maybe it's gaining all these new abilities as the Spirit of Earth, but it kind of threw me off balance, if you want honesty." Kurama smiled again. "I've got a grasp on handling everything now."  
"So…Why are you telling me all of this anyways, Kurama?" Aya asked.

"Hm…I knew you'd listen. Besides, you're one of the people I've gotten on with best in this group, I'd say. We've had some interesting encounters, haven't we?"

"Oh…Well, there was the time I nearly died in the Forest Temple with the falling ceiling…Oh, and there was the Fire Temple debacle."

"What an interesting experience that was." Kurama agreed.

"Yeah…" (A/n: We remember what happened there, right?)

"Let's continue to keep that to ourselves, shall we?"

"Right." Aya nodded. "Well, if it's any consolation, I enjoyed it."

"As did I. But to ourselves, still." Kurama nodded, being honest. "Oh, and am I still an idiot?"

"Nope. You're not crazy anymore, therefore, you're the smart one again."

"Wonderful to know."

_To our favorite, idiotic, green-clad hero…and Kaori._

"This is high up!" Link exclaimed, looking down at the rest of the village from the roof of the inn. Link had managed to drag Kaori up all the way to the top of the roof, which she didn't seem to be extremely enjoying. The only thing keeping her from screaming out in mass panic was the fact that, if she weren't there, Link would fall off at the sight of a bird or something.

"Link!" Kaori screeched. "Why are we up here?"

"Because, you can see all of Kakariko like this!" Link had a goofy grin on his face that was oddly comforting. Kaori was slowly getting used to it all, but she still didn't like the fact that they were on top of a roof.

"Well, let's not stay here for too long, okay?"

"Of course not! But it's at least fun, right?" silence. "You know, for a Spirit of Wind, you're really out of character!"

"And you're out of character for the Hero of Time." Kaori retorted, and both knew that the other was right.

"Oh…Sorry!" Link waved happily, and Kaori just sighed loudly, still clinging, white-knuckled, to the roof paneling with dear life. She was going to kill Link if she fell. "You know? I like traveling with you all!"

"Well, I guess I like traveling with everyone, too." Kaori shrugged. "I'm surprised we get along so well with each other."

"I know that things might change when we fight Ganondorf." Link said innocently. "But I want things to stay the same as they are. You all are probably the best friends I've ever had. Better than Saria, even!"

"But weren't you two really good friends?"

"Yeah, but I think she felt sorry for me."

"Oh."

"Will you go back home after all of this is over, Kaori?" Link turned, now sitting next to the Spirit of Wind. "If the Sages give you a choice, and we…don't die or something weird like that, will you go back home?"

"I….don't really want to go back home." Kaori stared off. "I like everyone. I don't…"

"So, you might stay here with me?"

"…..Yeah."

"Yes!" Link threw his arms in the air. "That makes me really happy to hear that, Kaori!"

"Oh, why's that?" Kaori turned.

"Because! I really like you! I don't want you to go!"

"Oh…my…" Kaori turned red, but appreciated the sentiment. "Well…"

"I think we should just sit here for awhile."

"Good idea…"

_To Navi…_

_I don't know…Can they really handle all of this? _Navi had retreated to a branch in one of the highest trees in Kakariko. She could observe everyone from here, and she could see at least Kaori and Link on the roof of the inn. How Link had managed to Kaori up there was beyond anyone else's guess.

It wasn't as if Navi didn't believe in the group. She did, fully. But she was hesitant. There was something off about sending a group of kids into a battle for the fate of the world that made her worry. Worry. Maybe that's what she felt.

_I'm worrying? How un-me. _She thought to herself. Navi didn't worry. So why now? She wasn't sure why she was worrying about the group. Sure, she had seen all they could do and put up with. Heck, they had faced some pretty bad, evil things: evil alter egos, collapsing bridges, each other… They had made it to this point, so why did she worry now of all times?

Maybe she had grown attached to them. _Me? Sarcastic, old, uncaring me? _That was it… She was sure now that it was her grown attachment to the group of kids. She was like a mother hen in the form a fairy, she decided. Sure, they were strange: Link the idiot, Kurama the voice of reason, Joey the hotheaded one, Aya the sarcastic one, Kaori the sweet one, and Katara the overly confident one. They were only a group of kids, but she had seen them do some pretty funny and amazing things all in one.

_What will I do once this ends?_ Navi thought to herself. She had guided them this far. She had kept Link under control and helped them solve the most confusing of the Sages' puzzles, but could she really stay with them after this? Will she have to go on and do something else? The Deku Tree didn't need her anymore and her "Kokiri" was Link, but he wasn't really a Kokiri, just a Hylian. Hylians didn't need fairies to guide them.

_What will I do once all of this is over and I'm not needed anymore?_

_**The next day arrives… (insert heroic music here)**_

__Sleep had come fitfully for all of the heroes that night. But when morning came and they had gotten a quick bite to eat, they were all ready to go. Everyone looked ready…well Link looked about as ready as he could get before he fell down the stairs at Kakariko's entrance and yelled something about butterflies while he fell…Go figure.

"Ready dudes?" Joey said, yanking Link back up off the ground as he said so.

"Yeah! Some dude is waiting for us!" Link declared.

"I believe I established that yesterday." Navi sighed. "Let's go. There isn't any turning back. So, ready to hit it and give that Ganondorf guy a piece of what for?"

"Yep!" Kaori, Katara, and Link all said in unison, Link giving a thumbs up before falling again.

"I'm ready. Time to shove those dark ambitions up somewhere where it hurts a lot." Aya shrugged.

"Let's go kick ass."

"That sums that up." Navi agreed.  
"Okay!" Link sprung back up like a jumping bean.

"He must fall when he's excited." Kaori said.

"He must be excited a lot, because he falls constantly." Katara shrugged before turning to Joey. "Keep your mouth shut and go!"

"Going, going…" Joey looked defeated and walked forward, along with everyone else, towards the castle town ruins.

**A/n: **Okay, so…there's what I'll refer to as the classic "before the big battle" filler chapter. Hope it was enjoyable and all. Moving on now.


	47. Eclipsed by Shadow

A/n: Uh, here's the Zelda chapter…You know, Zelda appears, and everyone's like "Oh crap, I didn't realize Sheik was Zelda even

**A/n: **Uh, here's the Zelda chapter…You know, Zelda appears, and everyone's like "Oh crap, I didn't realize Sheik was Zelda even though it was ever so slightly hinted." Okay, read now.

**Disclaimer:** I'll amuse you and say no, nothing that doesn't look made up is mine. So…yay.

**Chapter 47: Eclipsed By Shadow **

The ruins of Hyrule Castle Town hadn't gotten anymore pleasant or creepy in the time that they had been absent from it. Though the atmosphere seemed more and more melancholy each time they came. They managed to avoid all of the ReDeads as they traversed their way to the Temple of Time, which still stood solemnly in the back of the town, looking over it unknowingly.

"It seems like this place is sadder every time we enter it." Katara said off-handedly as they looked around the Temple of Time, still spotless after all of the chaos around it.

"Maybe it's the Sacred Realm and the time deal, but I feel like people are watching me every time I'm here." Joey shivered.

"It's just really sad." Link sighed.

"You've done admirably, heroes." A familiar voice caused everyone to jump roughly five feet in the air and for Joey to nearly incinerate the ancient building.

"Sheik!" Link exclaimed.

"Well, he actually called him by his name this time." Kaori said. "That's a plus."

"We found the last sage, Nabooru, if you didn't already know." Joey had calmed down.

"Oh, I knew." Sheik had his arms crossed. "You have ventured through many places, faced many enemies, endured many hardships, and now stand here before me as the true champions of time."  
"…" the group nodded.

"Now, I must explain something." Sheik continued fluidly in his explanation, wasting no time at all. "The Triforce, as you know, is the sacred symbol of this country, and a holy relic in the world. When you six opened the Door of Time, the void opened and Ganondorf was able to enter the Sacred Realm, too, even though you were doing in peace's name.

"There is a legend…In this legend is says that the Triforce has the power to grant a great wish. If someone pure with good intentions gets hold of the Triforce, the Goddesses will grant a prolonged prosperity to Hyrule. But if evil takes hold of the Triforce, nothing but dark, horrible things will happen."

"Ganondorf has all of this power then because he was able to get the Triforce?" Katara asked.

"In a way…" Sheik paused but continued on. "When Ganondorf took hold of the Triforce, it split into three parts, into the three separate Triforces: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Ganondorf obtained the Triforce of Power."  
"Where did the other two Triforces go?" Navi asked, floating around the group.

"They went to the owners worthy of them." Sheik said. "Courage belongs to the one of utmost courage. You, Link."

"Me?" Link looked down, in shock, at his hand suddenly glowing. Even passing through the covering of his gauntlet, a bright golden light shot up, and a triangle formed from three other gold triangles connected and branded the back of his left hand. "Oh, pretty."

"The Triforce of Courage went to the wielder of the Master Sword and Hero of Time." Sheik said. "Fitting, I suppose."

"And the Triforce of Wisdom?" Kaori turned.

"The Triforce of Wisdom belongs to the Seventh Sage, the one destined to lead them." Sheik said, causing shocked and exasperated looks from the heroes.

"There's another one?" Joey sighed loudly.

"The Triforce of Wisdom belongs…" Sheik held up his hand and a bright, sudden gold light shot from his hand and suddenly engulfed the entire room. Everyone, even Navi, had to cover their eyes. The light cleared, and Navi was the first one to exclaim.

"Holy crap…" Navi broke the silence and everyone looked up, and not even Link could really say anything.

"It is I, Zelda, the one destined to rule this country." Zelda's sweet, light voice filled the room like a bell.

"She's…so…beautiful." Kaori whispered to herself, turning to everyone else to see their mixed reactions. Joey was open-mouthed in shock, Link looked as if her were about to shatter into a million pieces, Aya had wide eyes, Katara had a hand over her mouth in shock, and Kurama just seemed surprised. Navi was flickering her aura.

Zelda was indeed as beautiful as a princess should be. Her long blond hair flowed down her back like a cascade of gold, and her ocean blue eyes had a fierce, purple tint to them, making them enchanting. Her pale skin was complimented by light pink, blue, and cream ensemble. Her dress itself was dark pink at the top, like an over shirt kind of deal, and was held up by gold shoulder plates engraved with light ruby stones. The skirt was pale pink and cream colored and flowed down to the floor almost. Her family's crest and the Triforces symbol of Hyrule graced a blue, skirt attachment on the front. She had long, pink gloves to her elbows, and finishing the elegant outfit was a gold tiara and gold, triangle-shaped earrings.

"It's….uh…." Link was lost, officially. This was too much for his feeble attention span to handle.

"I'm sorry." Zelda immediately started off. "I felt horrible for having to fool you all of this time."

"I guess…But why?" Navi asked.

"After I threw you the Ocarina of Time and the Spirits' pendants those five years ago, Impa whisked me away, far away, to hide me from Ganondorf. I took on the guise of Sheik using my magic and Impa's expertise in disguise."

"So, Sheik was a safety measure?" Katara shrugged. "It's understandable."

"Yes." Zelda nodded. "I picked up some excellent fighting prowess along the way. I waited for five long years for you all, and I needed to help you, so I faced you as Sheik. It was a horrible thing for me to do, despite my 'safety', but I needed to guide you and teach you the Sages' Temple songs."

"It's fine, really." Joey waved. "We know now, and you've helped us a lot."

"I'd rather you be hidden than dead." Aya agreed.

"Thank you. You all are very forgiving people." Zelda smiled. "Listen, we all have a destiny that's bonded together. We're all bound to this Triforce, even if you Spirits don't actually wield a Triforce piece."

"What do you mean by that?" Kaori asked.

"Well, if I recall, the Deku Sprout did say once that the Spirits' original goal was to guard the Sacred Realm and the Hero of Time." Kurama mused.

"Yes, precisely!" Zelda clapped. "You all are heroes of time, but you all are bound to the Triforce because you hold the power to guard it. It will be your decision on the Triforce's fate."

"Fate?" Joey asked.

"You'll know when the time comes." Zelda nodded. "Now, I'm happy the truth is revealed. I want to help you all in any way I can. I've observed you for a long time now, as you know. I'm amazed at your ability to cooperate with each other. Please, maintain this relationship even in the face of such great adversity as this. Separately, it is nigh impossible to handle such evil alone. But together, bonded as one, it can be accomplished."

"…" Everyone nodded.

"I would like to reveal the rest of the truth to you, but I believe we should get this done as quickly as I can." Zelda held out her hand and another gold light erupted, but solidified in front of the group in the form of arrows, crystallized light at the tip. It dissolved and the magic was absorbed into Kaori and Link, the only two in the group who used bows. "Those are the Light Arrows, and great weapon against evil. Please, use them wisely."

"I like these." Kaori smiled. "At least now, I can use light instead of just wind, fire, and water-based arrows."

"Yes, I believe they will be quite useful in our battle against Ganondorf." Zelda smiled again.

The Temple of Time began to rumble violently, causing everyone to lose their balance and fall to their knees, including Zelda. A few pieces of ceiling crashed to the ground as the violent shaking put the frail temple to the test.

"Oh, no!" Zelda's surprised voice caught everyone's attention and they looked up to see a pink crystal surround the princess and imprisoning her inside. She placed her delicate hands on the surface, looking around calmly but frightfully.

"Zelda!" they all cried in unison (well everyone but Kurama, who didn't really yell.)

"Ha…Right under my nose all along." Ganondorf's loathsome voice filled the old temple. "To think I let this jewel wander around all of this time. She has part of what I need, and I'm not letting her go away now!"

"Oh no. Look!" Aya pointed and they turned to Zelda again. She had collapsed in the crystal, her back leaning against the crystal in a slanted half-standing position. Though, she wasn't truly unconscious, it seemed. Her amethyst-colored eyes were glazed over and seemingly lifeless in her state of unconsciousness.

"What have you done to her?" Link yelled up at the ceiling, where Ganondorf's voice was coming from.

"I can't let this girl's magic break my prison, now can I?" Ganondorf said. "I shouldn't have been careless and let her get taken away all of those years ago. If I had disposed of her then, her and that wretched servant of hers, things might be a tad different."

"…" the group just nodded.

"Ha!" Ganondorf laughed a bit. "I should have just disposed of you then, too, when you all were nothing but a bunch of brats. It would have been easy. Children are easy to squish, aren't they?"

"That's a horrible thing to say!" Katara seethed.

"True, though." Ganondorf laughed again. "I don't want to discuss what could be with you all. There's no point in wasting my time. I will destroy you and take that Triforce and those Spirit Powers. No pesky evil-slaying blade can surpass the power of a Triforce!" A few small bolts of lighting knocked the group over and the crystal, with Zelda, disappeared.

"Dammit!" Joey growled.

"I hate that guy so much!" Link stood up. "How could he take our friend like that? Zelda's done so much to help us!"

"That's probably why." Kurama said calmly, standing back up coolly and fluidly. "He doesn't want us to succeed. He probably doesn't like that we've gone as far as we have. He has made many efforts to destroy us or the Sages in the other temples."

"Well, no talking anymore!" Navi ordered. "We're going start hauling ass and getting our butts to Ganondorf's tower now. Let's go!"

"Right!"

The group ran out of the Temple of Time and past the rest of the ReDeads, making to the dark tower that was once a breath taking palace grounds. A pool of lava stood as the moat, and there was no apparent way to get to the entrance.

"Uh…There's lava." Joey looked down.

"Lava's hot!" Link cheered. "And gives you third-degree burns or kills you!"

"Now that we've had a lesson in geology thanks to Link…" Navi sighed.

"Well, at least Joey could survive." Kurama nodded.

"Oh yeah!" Joey seemed proud now. "Cool!"

"Heroes!!" a deep voice that was most likely Rauru judging by the deepness of it echoed around them.

"Oh, I hate all of these surprises!" Katara growled.

"Rauru!" Link cheered.

"We can help you!" Saria's voice echoed, too. "Allow us to use our powers to make a bridge for you to cross."

"We're just awesome like that." Nabooru added for a hint of flair.

"So, don't thank us Brothers and Sisters!" Darunia added.

"Well, I am a princess. I'm just as cool as Zelda, I tell you!" Ruto declared.

"Yes, you aren't quite that bad, Ruto." Impa added calmly.

"You're pretty!" Saria chimed. "I love Zoras! They're very radiant."

"Sages! Back to the bridge!" Rauru seemed annoyed.

"Oh, yeah. The evil bastard and the kidnapped princess…" Nabooru said.

"And the lava." Saria completed.

"Just make the bridge already, please!" Rauru snapped and suddenly there were a collected "right!" and balls of light rained down in yellow, green, red, blue, orange, and purple. They merged together to form a bridge.

"That was awesome. Now we're not the only idiots." Joey pumped a fist.

"Don't die, brothers and sisters!!" Darunia requested as a 'You're welcome' statement.

"Yeah…Uh…Help ya later." Nabooru ended the Sages connection to the Heroes.

"Wow…You've corrupted the Sages, even." Navi sighed.

"Let's hope Rauru doesn't commit suicide before all of this is over." Aya nodded and everyone ran over the "Rainbow" bridge and into the dark tower.

_To Ganondorf real quick…_

"You!" Ganondorf growled at his minion, a tired and sad looking Yami/ Dark Link who was staring up at the dazed Zelda. "What are you gawking at?"

"She is a princess." Yami growled. "She's…eye-catching."

"A nothing like you has no chance with a jewel like her. Or any of those other jewels in that meddlesome group of kids." Ganondorf seemed to like insulting the dark being.

"…" Yami nodded.

"Hm." Ganondorf continued playing dark, creepy music on his organ as the crystal with Zelda floated to a place above. "Go take care of them."

Yami exited to the room, and paused once the door closed. _Should I? _

**A/n:** I let you all ponder what I'm going to do to Yami/Dark Link. Yeah. I'm purposely trying to make it half obvious for a reason.

Oh, and the Sage-bit. Well, this is supposed to be humor, and if the saviors of Hyrule are a bunch of easily distracted idiots, why not make the Sages some too?

Uh… Yeah… Yay, darkness. There's not I can do to characterize Ganondorf's bastard-ness.

Review.


	48. A Glint of Light: Forest and Fire

A/n: So, uh… Woo-hoo, Ganon's Tower

**A/n: **So, uh… Woo-hoo, Ganon's Tower? Yeah… This was really the most drawn out of the dungeons in OoT, which is why I'm going to dumb it down a bit, like I've done with most other things in this story. It's about the story, not the dungeons right? But, yeah, just forewarning, I'm going to disappoint some people by just skipping the Golden-gauntlet deal altogether. I'll switch it up a bit, but you don't need them to defeat Ganon. You only use them twice anyways.

So, with that declared, let us move on. I'm sure all of my fans, who are surprisingly missing, don't really care if this is finished or not, but I'm ready for it to end. So, yippee, let's move on now…

**Disclaimer: **What do you all think?

**Chapter 48: A Glint of Light Part 1: Forest and Fire**

Walking into the creepy castle-tower place, the heroes found themselves so welcomingly confronted by two Beamos, who, as usual, tried to pierce a laser through their heads. A couple of bombs easily disposed of the creatures or contraptions or whatever they were, and the group moved on.

"Well…Is this the real tower?" Joey pointed up to a giant tower that stood in the middle of the room, entrance blocked. Surrounding it was a barrier, and coming off of the barrier were six colored beams that pointed to different doors.

"Hey, those are the Sages' colors!" Link cheered stupidly.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Navi said.

"So…what do we do?" Joey looked around.

"Well, I do know that defeating Ganondorf doesn't involve sitting here like idiots staring up at his tower while he continues a reign of terror upon Hyrule." Aya said simply.

"Good point." Kaori tapped her chin.

"Well, I figure this is what the Sages meant by 'aiding' us later." Kurama said.

"Yep." Navi nodded. "What we need to do is dispel these six barriers."

"In what order?" Katara looked up to the fairy, which was on Link's head, per usual.

"Uh…Whatever order you choose do it in, I guess." The fairy answered. "But I think the simplest place to start would be the green one, Forest."

"Why is everything always about the elements?" Link asked as the party walked over to the door. "I mean, you have the Spirits and the Sages and the pretty beam-things."

"I don't know." Navi said. "Ask the Goddesses and the old people from long ago."

"But aren't the old people from long ago dead?" Link asked.

"Yes."

"But how can I talk to them?"

"Figure it out." Navi slapped herself. "Listen, I've got an idea."

"Oh, I like Navi's ideas." Link cheered.

"There are six of you guys and six beams." Navi paused to let it click in everyone's head. "Get it?"

"I get it!" Kaori waved, along with Aya and Kaori. Kurama just nodded. There was another moment of silence as the two blonds of the party finally got it.

"OH!" they cheered in unison.

"Smart one." Joey shrugged.

"Well, I know this is supposed to be some courageous act where you guys dispel the barriers together and defeat the evil king-dude, but we have to find Zelda, pronto."

"So, we split off?" Katara asked.

"Bingo." Navi nodded. "I think you each should go to the door that corresponds with your element."

"But what about me?" Link asked.

"We'll figure that one out." Navi pondered. "Well, Katara and Joey are obvious. Katara will do water and meet Ruto, I'm sure, and Joey will do the same with fire and meet Darunia."

"Sounds nifty to me." Joey nodded, happy with the choice.

"Okay, so the rest of you." Navi turned to the rest. "Uh…Kaori, you should do Spirit."

"Why Spirit?" Kaori cocked her head.

"I'm not sure." Navi sighed loudly. "Aya, are you okay with going to Shadow?"

"Sure, but don't my elements and Impa's element collide?" Aya asked.

"Not exactly." Navi said. "Actually, you fit each other quite well."

"Alright then." Aya nodded.

"Kurama, you'll do forest then?" Navi turned.

"As figured." Kurama smiled.

"He gets the easy one!" Joey whined.

"There's no guaranteeing that it'll be easy, you moron!" Katara scolded.

"And, Link, oh great Hero of Time, you do the old guy's dungeon." Navi looked down.

"Yay! Old people!" Link cheered.

"So, we do this, and dispel the barriers separately then?" Katara asked.

"Yes." Navi said. "I think I figured it out. You go to the Sage and dungeon that best corresponds with you. Spirit best goes with Kaori and Shadow goes with Aya, so, go and knock yourselves out Oh, and take some of these with you." Navi bonked Link on the head, and ordered him to open the pack. Everyone got a light arrow.

"These are useful to non-archers…how?" Joey looked at it and put it in his pack.

"Because, you'll probably need that to dispel the barrier. Just take it." Navi seemed annoyed.

"Alright…" Everyone nodded, and wished each other luck, going through their doors.

_Let's start with Joey…_

_Man, this sucks…_ Joey stared off into the trial before him. It was impossibly hot in the room he was in, but luckily he had an edge, being the Spirit of Fire and all. So, really, it wasn't hot to him. Joey just liked to complain.

The room was a large room of dark, stone walls characteristic to that of the rest of the temple. There was no floor, only a pool of burning, red lava. A maze like platform stood out of the pool of lava and rose up and down. Several other platforms lay in between for hopping purposes. Joey hopped onto the platform and ran as fast as he could since the platform began to sink. He came within bird's eye view of the next door, with the Fire Sage's symbol on it, but it had a lock and chains on it.

"Oh, well, damn." Joey grumbled. "I can't get over there anyways." He hopped onto another platform, climbing on top. Moving aside some rocks, he found a treasure chest. "Oh…" Joey looked stupidly at it before cluing in. "Hot damn! I found my key! Crap, I sound like Link!" Joey scolded himself, paying no attention to the fact that he was talking to himself.

Joey bent down into a comfortable thinking position, pondering his next move. _What now? I can't fly… But only Link's Longshot could make that far a distance, right? Oh, why does Link get all the nifty gadgets? _Joey stopped for a minute in his thinking. _Wait a second… I can't fly…but…wait another moment…almost there…Hot damn!! My flying-dragon thing!! _Joey snapped his fingers in excitement, hopping up and nearly falling into a painful abyss of lava, but caught himself. Joey shut his eyes, and then his pendant began to glow a red color. After a few seconds, his dragon summon formed.

"Okay, buddy." Joey winked at the dragon, who winked back with the same cocky enthusiasm. "Ready to fly?"

The dragon gave him a look saying _No, I'm ready to go bowling._

"Okay, then, let's hit it!" Joey hopped onto the dragon's back. Another look on its face said _Ow! That's my back, dude, not a trampoline!_

The dragon cooperated for its master and flew to the platforms where the door was. Joey hopped off, smiling at the dragon graciously. After thanking it, Joey de-summoned the dragon, and opened the door. The silver chains guarding it fell limply to the ground. Beyond the door, there was a crystal-like formation and a red beam piercing through it. On either side of the crystal were two pinkish-red flames.

"Uh…What do I do now?" Joey tapped his chin. Then he remembered the Light Arrows. "Oh!" Joey pulled it out, and decided, since he wasn't an archer, he'd just stab the arrow into the crystal. Luckily for Joey, his solution worked, for the yellow light of the Light Arrow shone through and broke the crystal. Then, Darunia appeared in its place.

"Hello, brother!" Darunia greeted in his usual friendly, backslapping kind of manner. "I'm very proud of you, brother!"

"Why's that?" Joey asked.

"Because! You and your friends have managed this far." Darunia smiled. "All of us Sages are happy for you. Now, you must hurry though."

"Because the world is in tremendous danger and if we don't fix it, we'll die?" Joey asked.

"Precisely, brother. My, you are very intelligent!" Darunia laughed. "Now, free discussion done. Let me do this for you." Darunia clapped his hand and bright red light erupted. The red beam connected to the tower's barrier was dispelled. The red glowing ceased. "Now, brother! Go, and save Princess Zelda! But don't get so caught up in the mess that you forget you really care for, brother! Now, move!" Darunia clapped again, and he was gone.

"Who I really care about?" Joey let out a laugh. "Dude, if I forgot her, she'd freakin' kill me."

_Now, onto Kurama……_

Kurama's dungeon wasn't really providing much of a challenge for him. He didn't mind this that much, but wanted to get the forest beam dispelled as speedily as possible. He was confronted first by a Wolfos, which, after all the crap that he had fought, really didn't take that long to dispatch. He moved onto the next room, and he immediately noticed that the room was cooler than the rest of the room.

"Oh, joy." Kurama said sarcastically under his breath. The floor was, as expected in some dark, dreary villain's castle, and endless abyss, and there were many platforms at floor level for him. There were four giant fans on either side of the room, blowing impossibly fast winds throughout it. Kurama looked around for some catch to it all, and sighed, noticing also, the classic silver rupee puzzle. "There were none of those in the Forest Temple, so that's new." Kurama figured the Hover Boots were his friends, and slipped them on. He immediately hopped onto one platform and grabbed a Silver Rupee.

A while later, Kurama managed to collect all of the Rupees in the room. There was a clanking sound as the iron bars of a door rose. Turning his head in that direction, he noticed that door had the forest symbol at the top. Kurama sighed loudly when he also noticed it was quite a leap to get there. Hopping to one more platforms, Kurama mustered all of his leaping ability into one jump and landed carefully at the edge of the final platform where the door was.

"That was amazing. I'm probably never going to accomplish that again." Kurama laughed a bit. He opened the door. In it was a similar scene to Joey's dungeon, with a crystallized structure in the middle with a green-colored beam piercing through. On either side, green torches stood. Kurama immediately pulled out the Light Arrow he was given and stabbed the crystal, watching the yellow light engulf the crystal. After a flash, Saria stood in the crystal's place.

"Oh, Kurama!" Saria smiled. "I'm happy to see you again. I see all of you split up."

"Well, it gets the job done faster." Kurama sighed. "Hopefully the others are fine."

"I'm sure they are." Saria nodded. "Link is…interesting, but, surely, he'll be fine."

"I hope so. He's my friend and we do need him for all of this." Kurama nodded in agreement.

"Right." Saria nodded. "Listen, I'd like to say one thing. I'm happy Link has friends like you all. You guys can be there for him in ways that I couldn't be. And now that I'm the Forest Sage, I can no longer be with him in the same world. Will you overlook him for me?"

"Guard him? That's kind of what Joey and I have been doing this whole time, I suppose." Kurama nodded. _Saved him from countless encounters where he nearly fell off a cliff or some edge that led to an endless abyss. Link is certainly a character._

"Right." Saria smiled. "Okay, now that I've gotten that off of my chest, I'm ready!" Saria quickly clasped her hands and a green light emerged. The green beam connecting the room to the tower's barrier was gone. "There! Now, quickly, go! You all have only so much time!" Saria nodded anxiously and disappeared.

"Alright. So…Where did everyone else go?"

_So, outside where the tower-barrier thing is…_

"So…Fire and Forest are dispelled." Dark Link/Yami looked up at the barrier that was slowly falling apart. _Ganondorf told me to go deal with them…But why am I so hesitant? They haven't beaten me. I nearly beat them. Should I just allow them to continue this progress?_

Dark Link/Yami hadn't been able to bring himself to chase after any of the heroes, even though he had heard them establish who was going after what. There was something stopping him, but he couldn't place a finger on what was stopping him.

Guilt? No…Dark beings like him had no guilt, right? He was demon, a thing born to be something's reflection. He's the shadow of the light. Right? _Maybe I'll just wait a little longer. Ganondorf already thinks I'm useless. Maybe he thinks they can't do it, but I have a feeling they will get up there and confront him. I don't want the princess…or any of them perishing. _

But why would he worry?

He continued to think…and he began to remember things. He remembered things that he had forgotten about, that he wanted to forget about.

_(Flashback of sorts)_

_"Is that all I'm here for, Ganondorf?" Dark Link/Yami fumed. "I don't want to defeat my reflection. I have no need to. He's no good to me?"_

_"He's no good?" Ganondorf smirked. "He's under the Princess's orders. That princess you admire. Also, he and his meddlesome friends are getting in my way. Besides, that reflection of yours unknowingly holds the Triforce of Courage. He won't realize it for some time."  
"Were they supposed to wake up after all of this time? The Princess is gone now." Dark Link/Yami crossed his arms. _

_"Yes, she is, or so we think." Ganondorf smirked again. "Of course, I don't know if they were supposed to, but I surely didn't like them waking up. Not like I didn't get part of what I wanted. I need them to go away. I need those pendants. I need that Triforce."_

_"And you're sending me to the Water Temple for that?" _

_"Yes, they aren't even close to finishing the easiest; I'm sure, of the temples." Ganondorf smirked. "Let them awaken the Sages, they can't stand up to my Triforce of Power! But, you can deal with them. Get in their heads. Find an edge. You at least are useful for that, right?"_

_"Useful?"_

_"Yes. Dark things like you are only useful to do one thing: corrupt. Of if you aren't good for that, then your useless…What good is a shadow if it so easily disappears?_

**A/n: **So…Uh…Yay. Like I said, these are dumbed down to an almost ridiculous level. But I've always focused more on the plot twists than anything else. Dark Link will play a sort of big role in this dungeon, since we really haven't heard from him since the Water Temple and the Katara incident.

Yeah, sorry there were not in depth scenes with Forest and Fire. Joey and Kurama didn't have huge, emotional connections to their respective Sages.

Uh…This is futile, but review?


	49. A Glint of Light: Shadow and Water

A/n: Okay…So…Shadow and Water

**A/n: ** Okay…So…Shadow and Water! Onwards now… Woo-hoo.

**Disclaimer: **Same as usual…

**Chapter 49: A Glint of Light Part 2: Shadow and Water**

Aya had figured out pretty quickly that the Shadow dungeon was going to suck, she figure it out sooner than she expected. The room's floor was an endless abyss, and there were couple of platforms, one holding a treasure chest and another holding an unlit torch. Floating in a circle in the middle of room was a Green Bubble and on a platform far back was a Like Like. Sighing loudly, she looked around for a solution. She figured that the best solution would be to light the torch on the platform farther away. She couldn't shoot anything at it, but decided that she could probably make Din's Fire go far enough to do the job and kill the Green Bubble at the same time. She performed the magic spell, yellow flames erupting and the bubble died, and the torch suddenly lit up.

"That was easy enough…" Aya said somewhat sarcastically and crept her way across a white platform that had appeared. She opened the chest when she got to the other platform and pulled out a key. From there, she crept her way to the Like-Like platform and disposed of the creature with light magic. After a minute of thinking, she looked around. _Oh, this is annoying. There's nothing…wait…unless I pull out the Lens of Truth. _Aya had taken the device, figuring she'd probably need it in the shadowy dungeon. She peered through it and saw an impossibly thin and winding platform leading to the door with the Shadow symbol. _Great…I hate the Shadow dungeons…_

_Let's skip to Katara real quick…_

Katara knew she was the Spirit of Water and stuff, but she didn't like to be reminded of past experiences in water-related dungeons. Setting foot into the cold atmosphere of the Water dungeon, she was suddenly reminded of the chaos that was the Water Temple. She didn't like being reminded of that, but she figured she'd have to soldier through her discomfort for the sake of everyone else.

The first room of the Water dungeon was a snowy kind of room, reminiscent of the Ice Cavern. There was blue fire surrounded by icicles. She broke the icicles and caught some of the mysterious flames in a bottle, figuring it was obviously there for a reason. She went through next door and was greeted with a block puzzle.

"Oh…Great." Katara gave a loud groan and began sliding the ice blocks with all of the strength she could muster, which was surprisingly a lot. She pushed the closest into a hole and then the last, she used the rocks sticking out as bumpers and she pushed it to the nearby wall, where a passage at the top was. Climbing on top of the slippery block, she nearly fell, but regained her balance and walked to the red ice covering a door. She released the blue fire and the ice melted.

"So…On to the next room…" Katara mumbled to herself.

_So, what of our finished heroes?_

Kurama met Joey outside in the main room where the barrier was. Both had readily disabled their beams of Forest and Fire, respectively, and now wondered what to do next.

"Well, yours sounded easier than a pit of burning lava." Joey looked annoyed.

"A lot of things are easier to come by than pits of burning lava, Joey." Kurama had his hands casually in his pockets. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know…Do we chase after the others, or let them handle it on their own?" Joey asked the redhead.

"Well, I guess we let them handle it on their own." Kurama explained. "I'm assuming this is the equivalent to a personal trial, I guess. I'm sure everyone will be fine…"

"Okay, if you say so…" Silence… "Are you okay, dude? You look disturbed by something."

"I sense something, that's all." Kurama smiled reassuringly. "Worry nothing of it, Joey."

"I never like it when you say that." Joey rolled his amber eyes at Kurama. "You always know something rest of us but Navi doesn't."

"It's just natural, I promise." Kurama smiled nervously. "I just figure these things out. To clarify, I sensed something familiar, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. So, let's just wait, shall we?"

"We shall. Asking questions with you is useless anyways."

And the waiting continued…

_So, to Dark Link/Yami…_

Dark Link/Yami had managed to hide from the two waiting in the main room…Kurama and Joey, he thought their names were. But he knew the redhead sensed him, but he couldn't reveal himself quite yet. He wanted everyone to be there.

_This entire situation is out of hand. None of this should have happened._

Dark Link/Yami had decided long ago that he wasn't really useful for anything, but he was content with that. He had always been. But now, being content with uselessness wasn't the best of options. He had to make himself purposeful for something, now of all times. He needed to do something.

But what would he do?

_I need to wake the Princess up! _Dark Link/Yami had always heard rumors of how beautiful Hyrule's princess would have been had Ganondorf not started a reign of terror. He had fantasized, he'll admit. He had found beauty for sure when he saw the female Spirits, Water, Wind, and Light, but when he saw the Princess, it was certain that his fantasies were right.

He thought himself obsessive. _But if I want to end my suffering, then I should help them out. I don't want to be a burden. _Dark Link/Yami decided one thing: he was going to defy Ganondorf. A deadly move, sure, but it was good enough. Following him wasn't really a big deal anyways.

_Princess! Wake up, dammit!_ He hissed in Zelda's head. There was a pause. _Oh, damn you! I don't care if I'm being inappropriate or not, but formalities don't matter right now! You have all of this magic power, so break that bastard's trance spell and wake up already! _

_…Who is…this? _Zelda's light voice rang in Dark Link/Yami's head. It sounded dazed, but clear.

_Princess? Good. _Soon, the two were facing each other in a mental conversation of sorts.

_You…Who are you? _

_I'm that Hero of Time's shadow… I want to help you._

_Why would a shadow want to help the side of good?_

_Because I'm miserable on the side of evil. I just want to make it easier on myself. _

_I'm glad. There are shadows out there that want to help the world. Shadows that shine brighter than light, no?_

_I'm not bright light, Princess. I'm far from it. As a matter of fact, Ganondorf once said that I'm nothing but a glint of shadow destined to fade into other shadows._

_Well, Ganondorf is a wretched man to begin with. Let him say those things. It just proves how black his heart truly is!_

_Listen, Princess. I woke you up. Is that good enough? _

_Yes, thank you. I will be awake when the Heroes arrive to confront Ganondorf._

_I once did a terrible thing to the Water-chick, Katara. _

_That wound will heal. She'll move on. _

_Will they be able to do that?_

_Of course. Not just because legends say so either._

_What with happen to those Spirits? The other five in that group?_

_They will determine the fate of the Triforce. For now, we wait. _

_Okay then. I'll fly with it._

_Oh…Thank you very much. _

_N-no problem. _

_Will you talk to me again? I'd like to see what a shadow being is truly like. _

_Nothing special. Just creepy looking._

_I see nothing "creepy". Let me determine for myself how "creepy" you really are…_

_**Back to Aya…**_

__Aya found the final room of her dungeon. In the center of the room was a crystal with a purple beam, and on either side of said crystal, there were torches with purple flames. Aya stabbed the Light Arrow through the crystal with all the strength her feeble muscles could give her. A flash of purple light later, the beam connected to the barrier was gone, revealing Impa in the crystal's place.

"Oh, Impa!" Aya waved.

"Yes, Aya. My counter." Impa smiled. "Light and darkness are not meant to be enemies."

"We aren't. I never considered you my adversary. But not all darkness is bad." Aya smiled. "Is that why I counter you, then?"

"Yes." Impa smiled back. "Shadow and light work together. That's how the cycle is supposed to go. You all have proven that nicely. Even people so different can work together."

"Well, we never really thought we were terribly different." Aya tapped her chin.

"You are, but alike at the same time." Impa crossed her arms. "Now that I've agreed on this with you, I shall leave you with this: hurry. I know you all can defeat that man. Please, save Zelda! She…is very important to me…Like a family member for lack of a better term."

"Will do, Impa. Thanks." Aya waved and Impa disappeared.

_To Katara…_

Katara was greeted with the same room as everyone else, the crystal and all, but this time, the torches were blue and the room was still cold. Katara pulled out the Light Arrow, sighing. She knew once she broke this crystal she'd have to talk to Ruto. Even though Ruto had apologized, she was still uncomfortable around her. Katara stabbed the crystal anyways, and a flash of light revealed the Zora Princess.

"Oh, I see you're alone." Ruto was hesitant in her words. "You've impressed me to get this far…"

"…" Katara nodded for acknowledgment.

"Listen….Can I say one thing?" Ruto started after a slightly awkward pause.

"Alright…" Katara nodded.

"I never felt like my apology back after the Water Temple as personal enough for you. I need to personally say I'm sorry." Ruto started. "I know I'm selfish and proud, but I let that same selfishness and confidence get in the way of my judgment. I'm sorry for what it did to you."

"It wasn't just you, you know." Katara had her hands behind her back.

"If I hadn't imposed so heavily on your relationship with Joey, then maybe you could have avoided what you had to endure in the Water Temple." Ruto looked to the side. "I never wished harm on you. I was just selfish."

"You're forgiven Ruto." Katara stopped. "Wait, I think I should apologize too."

"Why?" Ruto asked. "I was the cause of all of that!"

"No…I overreacted a bit, I think." Katara explained. "I've always had a bad temper, but I don't think I should have reacted as immaturely as I did. Maybe that is one of the reasons why I ended up like that. Do we forgive each other?"

"I forgive you." Ruto let out a rare, true smile, her magenta eyes sparkling. "Now, can we learn to get along? We do share the same element, after all."

"Sure." Katara nodded, feeling like a weight was off of her shoulders.

"Okay, back to the point then!" Ruto lifted her arms and a bright blue light filled the small room. After a minute, the blue beam connected to the barrier was gone. "You all have two barriers left now!"

"Wait, which ones?" Katara asked.

"If I'm guessing correctly, Nabooru and Rauru still have to dismantle their barriers. Darunia, Saria, Impa and I have already done it. Good luck!" Ruto disappeared.

_Back to Kurama and Joey…_

"So…" Joey spoke finally.

"Hm…The Shadow Barrier is gone, as is water." Kurama pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Oh, they are?" Joey looked up at the barrier, which seemed weaker than before.

"Yes. I'm assuming Aya and Katara will be out soon." Kurama nodded, and low and behold, Aya came running out of her door.

"Kurama! Joey!" Aya ran over to them. "Shadow kind of sucked…But there weren't any ReDeads or Gibdos or anything like that. I was preparing myself mentally for a zombie to get on me and suck my brains out or something."

"That's usually what I expect after the Shadow Temple." Joey said dryly.

"Oh yes. The Shadow Temple surely brings up some interesting memories." Kurama's voice held some sarcasm in it.

"Everyone!" Katara's voice was heard from the opposite direction and Katara ran up to the trio. "I finished. Guess what?"

"What is it Kat?" Joey looked to the Spirit of Water.

"I think Ruto and I have finally made amends."

"Well, at least you don't loath each other now." Aya smiled.

"Yeah! Isn't that great?" Katara laughed bit. "I don't think we'll ever be best friends or anything like that, but we at least don't hate each other now."

"Well, we're progressing aren't we?" Kurama smiled.

"I wish it could have been sooner than the last dungeon." Katara slapped herself.

"Good things come to those who wait, I suppose." Kurama said, once again, sarcasm dripping in his tone.

"That's a strange way of putting it, but that works too." Aya shrugged.

_To Zelda, real quick…_

Ganondorf hadn't noticed that Zelda as awake, nor did he seem to care. He was focused on his organ and the creepy, sad song he played on it. Zelda didn't have enough physical strength to attempt breaking the near-impenetrable crystal he had imprisoned her in.

_In a way I pity this man…What must have happened to him for him to want so much power? Why would he want to achieve this power in such a radical way? _ Zelda knew these questions were unanswerable, but they lingered on her mind. What could possibly drive someone so mad?

Ganondorf just played his music, waiting patiently for the time where he could crush those who oppose him, those annoying heroes. _Let them come. I'll crush all of them. No one will ever dominate this power now that I have it. I'll never be weak, ever again. Nothing can ever make me feel that pain ever again. No one…Not even the Goddesses! _

**A/n: **Well, Ganondorf might as well have more dialogue other than "Triforce of Power" and "annoying heroes"… Figured I'd at least hint that he may have his reasons…Oh well…

Don't worry. One more actual dungeon chapter to go and I'll be ready for our final battles! Yay!

Futile attempt, but Review!!


	50. A Glint of Light: Spirit and Light

A/n: Yay

**A/n: **Yay! Here I am with more Ganon's Tower…Woo-hoo. Yeah, I made it fairly obvious about Zelda and Dark Link. I'm hoping that that I will do with Dark Link will be somewhat interesting. It's nice to develop the not-as-important characters, right?

Anyways, fifty chapters!

**Disclaimer: **Uh….No.

**Chapter 50: A Glint of Light Part 3: Spirit and Light**

The minute Kaori had walked into the Spirit dungeon, she had decided it was going to suck, big time. The was greeted with a Beamos in the middle of the small room, several dormant Armos statues lined here and there, and several spike traps darting back and forth. She would have to dispose the Beamos and then carefully time her movements to get to the next door.

"Why me?" Kaori muttered to herself. She pulled out a bomb she had stolen from Link, and chucked it at the Beamos with all of her strength. It landed a few inches from the creature/contraption and blew it up with ease. She sighed in relief, though quietly cursed the fact that the guys got all of the physical strength. She took another breath and ran frantically to past the spike traps, get hit once and then tripping, landing in a graceless heap in front of the door. _Crap!_ Kaori rolled her eyes at the small cut on her leg and then stood up, opening the next door.

The next room had some jars, which she peaked in to find a fairy. Luckily, she did find one and it flew around her leg healing it. She thanked the small fairy and turned to the puzzle in front of her. There was a chest, which when she opened it, a key was in it. She pocketed and then turned to the rest of the room. There was a barred wall and beyond them were two crystal switches. That wasn't a problem for Kaori. She pulled out her bow and shot an arrow carefully through the bars at each switch. Once they began to glow yellow the bars on the door lifted and she walked through, past the next door, to a room with one of those sun puzzles.

"Oh, didn't we do enough of these in the Spirit Temple?" Kaori sighed loudly. She walked over to a mirror statue and began to weakly maneuver it through the light so that it would reflect at the sun switches. She finally got it to work, and the sun switches blinked opening the next door. Once she walked past his room, she got to a door, and unlocked it, letting the chains fall the ground.

The room had a crystallized structure in front of it with a faint orange glow, and next to it on either side were torches lit with orange flames. Kaori knew what to do next, and pulled out her bow and a light arrow, shooting it straight at the structure. With that, a bright flash of orange light filled the room, and the beam connected to the crystal structure disappeared…

_Well, what's happening with Link?_

Link, with Navi perched on his head, per usual, walked into a circular room. The door was barred on the other side, but there was a circle of chests with no chest in the middle. Curiously he looked at the chests, and opened on. To his surprise, a burst of impossibly cold air erupted from it and froze Link, and Navi, who was on his head.

_Awesome! I'm cold! _Link thought stupidly in his head.

_This is not awesome! _Navi said sharply in his head. _I do not enjoy being frozen, too! _

_Oh, but how often can you say that you've been frozen solid before? _

_You won't be saying anything because you have a limited oxygen supply and I don't need that. You'll suffocate to death._

_Oh, so I need to breathe, and I can't? So that's why my chest feels heavy!_

_You take these situations too lightly. _

_I do? _

_Yes._

Something crashed against the ice and it shattered, sending Link to the ground, gasping like a fish out of water.

"I…wonder…what…that….thing….that…broke…the….stuff…was…because…it…hurt…" Link said between gasps.

"A Stalfo." Navi said matter-of-factly.

"Oh…" Link turned around, and screeched squeakily when a Stalfo had a sword in his face. Link quickly pulled out the Master Sword and blocked an attack that would have killed him, managing to flip back to his feet and pull out his shield. The fight didn't last very long because Link managed to subdue the Stalfo rather speedily.

"Congratulations." Navi said nonchalantly, plopping herself back on Link's head. "You managed to do that in record time."

"Cool!" Link cheered and then bounded to the new chest that appeared. Opening it, he found a key, and pocketed it. "I name you Ebenezer and you are mine."

"Ebenezer?" Navi sighed at her companion's stupidity. "Can we move on now that you've grown some emotional attachment to your key?"

"What's an emotional attachment?" Link asked the fairy. "Is it like being possessed my mind-sucking zombies?"

"No." Navi blinked her aura a bit in annoyance. "Why does everything have to do with blood and zombies?"

"Because blood and zombies are awesome!" Link cheered. "Why else?"

"Whatever floats your leaky, little boat…" Navi said. "Anyway, to answer your question, an emotional attachment is when you've bonded to something or someone in particular. Kind of like how you're emotionally attached to your friends, right?"

"Oh, so it's like feeling strong emotions for someone." Link cheered. "Okay!"

"So, are these strong emotions for Kaori?" Navi smirked down at her partner.

"Yup! Who else?" Link smiled innocently up at Navi. The fairy was almost grateful that her partner was so open and honest with himself and his feelings.

"Well then, we should quit talking and get this dungeon done so we can rejoin the others. I'm sure you want to make sure they all got through it okay." The fairy suggested.

"Well, I can't get through this on my own!" Link cheered and burst through the next door. There was Triforce symbol on the ground and the door in front of them was barred.

"Great, we couldn't make it through one dungeon without having to use that Goddess-forsaken song, could we?" Navi growled a bit.

"Oh, that song is getting annoying." Link whined. He pulled out his ocarina anyway, and played Zelda's Lullaby. The Triforce glowed and the bars on the next door lifted. The next room contained a giant pillar from ceiling to floor, and rolling dangerously around the pillar were two humongous boulders.

"Simple explanation for this one, dude…" Navi started. "Time your movements and don't get squished. We need you."

"Got you!" Link ran stupidly into the room, and miraculously dodged both of the boulders. He made it to the door to the side of the room that had the symbol of the Light Sage on it. Link pulled out his key (luckily there was no emotional goodbye to "Ebenezer" since he probably forgot he named it, anyway.) The chains fell to the ground and Link ran through. In the room there was a glowing, crystal structure and a beam connecting to it. On either side of the structure were two torches lit with yellow flames.

"What do I do?" Link looked up to Navi, who was just floating around him.

"Well…Use the Light Arrows." Navi said. "Zelda did say they'd be useful."

"Oh, I get it!" Link shot a Light Arrow at the structure. A flash of yellow light filled the room and the beam disappeared.

_Back to Kaori…_

"There you are!" Nabooru appeared in the structures place, arms crossed in her usual, laidback manner.

"Nabooru!" Kaori smiled. "Um…What do we do now?"

"Uh…." Nabooru tapped her chin. "Okay, so I know the old man started explaining this to us, but I got distracted."

"Distracted? Aren't you a Sage?" Kaori lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, but listening to the old guy talk is boring. Darunia, Ruto, and I struggle to stay awake. It's Impa and Saria who keep us conscious."

"Well, we're not really focused, either." Kaori tapped her chin.

"Oh! I remember now." Nabooru uncrossed her arms. "I suck at this whole Sage-thing."

"No, you don't!" Kaori said.

"I was joking." Nabooru laughed. "Anyway, let's get started." Nabooru crossed her arms in front of her and another flash of orange light burst forth. Outside the dungeon, the orange beam connected to the barrier was gone. "Congrats, kid. You've dispelled the Spirit Barrier. I think this dungeon was the longest, eh?"

"Yes." Kaori sighed pathetically. "It was annoying."

"I know." Nabooru rubbed the back of her head. "There's a reason why no one travels through the Spirit Temple, that much."

"I see." Kaori laughed.

"Okay, enough chit-chat." Nabooru clapped. "Go on! You all need to save the princess-chick! And give that Ganondorf-bastard an extra kick in the ass for me, okay kid?"

"Got it, Nabooru." Kaori gave a thumbs-up and the Spirit Sage disappeared with a wink. "Great… I get to walk through all of that again."

_Yay, Link._

"You've done very well, Hero of Time." Rauru was in place of the crystal structure, staring down all regally and old-people like at Link.

"Oh, hi old guy!" Link waved.

"Hero of Time…" Rauru tried to ignore Link's name for him. "I will dispel the Light barrier for you." Rauru clapped and, outside, the beam connected to the barrier disappeared. Immediately, there was a crash and the barrier shattered and disappeared altogether. "Now, Hero of Time, the barrier to the tower is completely gone."

"Oh, so I can go through it now?" Link asked.

"No, you can stare at the tower and pretend you're fighting Ganondorf." Navi said sarcastically.

"That would be cool!" Link cheered. "I want the ability to be mentally connected to someone! And then I could, like, destroy them with my awesome powers of psychological manipulation!"

"I'm surprised he can use the word 'psychological'." Navi shrugged.

"Just go and save Princess Zelda and defeat the lord of evil, okay?" Rauru was probably already frustrated with the fact that the Sages were barely paying attention as it was. His temper seemed short. He disappeared after saying that.

"Wow, he seemed fed up." Link rubbed his head.

"Well, he's surrounded by idiots." Navi said. "Anyway, back up and go back to the main room. Everyone else is surely waiting for us."

_To everyone else…_

"So, I'm assuming that Link made it through in one piece." Kaori said. She had made it out a little while ago, as was waiting with the rest of the party for Link, who had apparently just dispelled his assigned barrier.

"Well, that's probably why the barrier just disappeared." Aya said, sarcasm, as usual, dripping from her voice.

"I knew that!" Kaori whined. "You know what I mean!"

"Of course I do, but I can still be sarcastic, right?"

"Oh, whatever."

"Look who is coming out." Kurama broke the moment calmly, pointing to Link, who was emerging from the Light dungeons.

"I'm here!!" Link cheered, running to the group. He tripped, as expected, but was caught by Kurama, who seemed to have seen it coming.

"Yay us." Navi said in her usual unfazed manner.

"So, do we move forward now?" Katara turned to the entrance to the tower.

"I guess." Navi said. "We're slowly, but surely, approaching the moment of truth here, folks."

"Well, um…" Joey hesitated. "I don't have a remark."

"That's a first for Joey." Kurama said nonchalantly.

"Well, I don't know what to say now." Joey responded.

"Actually, I have a bad feeling." Kaori said quietly.

"I do, too." Aya agreed.

"Well, I guess we'll have to wade through it." Navi said. "Let's just move on. We're not getting anywhere just standing here."

"Right!" The party all nodded and walked into the tower.

**A/n: **Okay, a rather uneventful chapter, but at least I got the dungeons out of the way. And, with these two dungeons, I BS'd most of it. I am using an old game file as reference to these dungeons, but I don't remember all that happened. Not that it matters all that much, right?

Review? Please?


	51. A Glint of Light: Impure Clarity

A/n: Uh…Here's the next chapter

**A/n: **Uh…Here's the next chapter. We're almost there, folks….Wee…

**Disclaimer: ** No, still…

**Chapter 51: A Glint of Light Part 4: Impure Clarity**

The tower was really just a seemingly never ending staircase to who-knew-how-high. The heroes were quite used to these kinds of things by now, since that was to be expected of a tower. Still, the weary heroes wished for an elevator or something to make their lives easier.

"Does this staircase not end?" Katara growled.

"Well, the tower was tall." Navi said.

"Yeah. But it's still annoying." Joey rolled his eyes.

"Why can't a villain be original?" Aya asked. "Villains are always at the highest point of their lair."

"Because their losers." Katara said bitterly.

"Well, our villain is a loser has the ability to incinerate you into nothing by merely flicking a thunder spell in your general direction." Navi explained nonchalantly.

"Good point." Katara tapped her chin. "Maybe loser isn't the right expression."

"He still sucks." Aya added.

There was a tension amongst the group that wasn't quite present before. Sure, there had been nervousness in the air when the final battle had become a reality. But now they had come so far, and the very reality of it all seemed to finally hit the party at full force. So much was riding on their shoulders, and despite their accomplishments, what if they failed? That was the thought lingering on everyone's minds as they traversed up the stairs. Each stair and door led them closer to their ultimate goal: to defeat the King of Evil and restore lost peace to the land of Hyrule. That had become their goal early on in their adventures, but the trial in front of them never seemed to affect them as much is it did at the current moment. So many things could come from this battle: death of them and Hyrule's future, death to the princess, or ultimate peace to the land that so desperately waited for it to come. Hyrule had waited patiently, unknowingly, for their heroes to come and free them. All this time, all seven of them (Navi included) had interacted with people whose futures rested with them.

It scared each of them a tiny bit. The dark atmosphere that grew stronger affected even Link's naturally perky nature. Even his face held contemplation as they moved further up. He occasionally held up his left hand to look at the Triforce mark boring into the back of it. Everyone else seemed to be somewhat spacey, especially the girls, and Kurama had an eerie calm aura to him that was different than his normal calmness.

Navi just observed all of this as she watched them march on, each preparing themselves mentally for the most strenuous of the tasks that they would face. She could tell, the very idea of fighting the powerful sorcerer seemed to eat at each of them. There was dimness to their demeanors. The group's familiar visage, friendly and outgoing, was fading with each chamber they passed through.

This worried Navi. This entire time, from the Great Deku Tree's insides to the end of Light Dungeons with Link, the thought of their failure ate away at her. She didn't want to believe it. Pessimistic was what Navi had always been. Now was no exception, though she wished for Link's seemingly unbridled optimism. She had made fun of him for it, yeah, but she wanted it. She wanted to wholeheartedly believe that they would make it through this, that they would save the entire world without fail.

But, deep in her heart, she didn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. Legends be damned, she didn't want to believe that the future of an entire country rested in the hands of children. They were children! Legends spoke of heroes, but when she saw her group, she saw kids who were caught in the middle of it all. How were these kids supposed to be the great heroes the Goddesses spoke of? In all her years, and Navi was pretty old admittedly, she had never heard of children being able to save the world.

And part of her felt guilty for not believing in them. She felt guilty that she had been with them all of this time, had seen all of the trials and tribulations they had faced, and still didn't think they could do this.

Was she a bad person for this? Was this considered betrayal to them? Was she even considered their friends, for starters? For all she knew the entire time, she was only a guide assigned by the Great Deku Tree to guide the legendary Hero of Time and help him realize his destiny.

Legends didn't say anything about children, and the legends certainly didn't say anything about fairies, either.

"So…." Joey broke the awkward silence. The silence had lasted at least three long flights of stairs. "What do we do when we finally get to Ganondorf?"

"Fight him?" Aya suggested. "Isn't that why we came?"

"It's scary to think that we have all of this riding on us, isn't it?" Katara pondered. "What do you think Navi? You're our guide, after all."

_You're our guide, after all._ Navi laughed a bit mentally. "Well, considering how far we've come, I'd say that fighting is all we have left. You can do it, though. Just do your best." Was she lying to them?

"I guess." Link sighed, putting his hand down after observing them. "I'm just worried."

"Question, though." Aya asked. "What will we do with the Triforce when Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf each have a piece of it?"

"That' s a good question." Kurama said. "The whole goal of this was to keep the Triforce from Ganondorf, but that seems to have failed. When we get to him, he'll most likely try to combine it since all three of the pieces will be in the room at one time."

"So, he'll have all three pieces available to him, won't he?" Link asked, being semi-thoughtful for once in his life.

"Right." Kurama confirmed. "I think our first goal would be to keep that from happening. I have faith though; Link is strong enough to resist it."

"Yes." Kaori smiled. "Link and Zelda can both try and resist. Where do we come in?"

"Where do we come in?" Kurama repeated the question. "Well, I guess we're there to help Link when the battle actually begins. But we do after we subdue Ganondorf is quite a mystery to me. I have a feeling it will come to us when we actually get there."

"Well, we'll just wing it, then." Joey shrugged.

"Right, for lack of a better term." Kurama sighed.

"I hope that's a good plan." Katara rubbed her forehead.

"Essentially, we don't have a plan." Aya pointed out. "For once, Joey is right."

"Thanks." Joey muttered.

"Oh, shut it."

Another silence came… Traveling up the stairs for awhile, the party finally came to what seemed to be the first actual room since the main lobby at the bottom of the castle. It was grey in appearance, with pots containing fairies lined around the corners of the room. A creepy red carpet stood in front of the next door.

"I feel weird all of a sudden." Aya mentioned looking around the room.

"I sense something strange, indeed." Kurama nodded. The party each took the strange feeling as a warning, and readied themselves.

"Hello, heroes." A familiar, deep voice greeted the party and they turned in its direction. Standing there in front of them was Dark Link/Yami, who looked about as creepy as he did in the Water Temple. Katara's body seemed to do a full shiver, and she took step back, loosening her guard in the process.

"Hey, Kat, calm down." Joey whispered.

"But…I knew I'd seem him again…" Katara was a bit distant now.

"Don't lose it on me now, Kat." Joey seethed.

"I won't…I'll try." Katara nodded.

"What do you want?" Link had the Master Sword at the ready, Navi floating around him.

"I want a lot of things." The shadow said bitterly. "I can tell you one thing I don't want is a battle." The somewhat surprised look on everyone's faces told the shadow being that they were thrown off guard. "Okay, I know, I know… I kidnapped your friend and gave her a dark side and generally acted like a prick, for lack of a better term, but that doesn't mean I want to fight you now."

"How can we trust you after all of that?" Aya asked.

"There is no true way to prove myself." Dark Link/Yami looked to the side, his crimson eyes a bit fogged over. "It's for someone like me to prove themselves, especially those of their opposing existence."

"Opposing existence?" Kurama asked curiously.

"Yep." Dark Link/Yami nodded his head. "Allow me to explain here. Ganondorf created me some time ago. I was meant to be the perfect, and evil, reflection to the Hero of Time. He was basing me off the idea that the Hero of Time could take down only himself. Understand?"

"I guess." Link nodded, lowering the Master Sword. "But why me?"

"Because you're the leader, you idiot!" Dark Link/Yami seemed impatient. "You're the wielder of the most powerful blade written down in history! You're the holder of the Triforce of Courage, musician to the Ocarina of Time, and the one who will rescue the Princess using the almighty powers granted to you by these things! Why else?"

"…" Link nodded again. He never seemed to take this stuff into consideration until now.

"I was supposed to match that." Dark Link/Yami clenched a fist. "I was sent to the Water Temple to wait, for several years. That was after the several years I spent under Ganondorf's strenuous training. He created me way before you all even opened the Door of Time."

"Are you saying that he knew about us before we even met him?" Joey asked, taken aback.

"Yes." The shadow nodded. "He was planning ahead. I actually kind of hated it. I hated a lot of things until I met the princess."

"Oh, so you knew Zelda before Ganondorf kidnapped her." Kaori shrugged.

"I only met her once, when Ganondorf stormed the castles five years ago and killed the King. I was the one who helped her and Impa escape. He doesn't know I did it, but I probably wrote my death wish by admitting it after all of these years. But it was as if I already knew everything about the princess since Ganondorf speaks of her all the damn time. He's obsessed with her, really."

"Isn't that a bit…weird?" Aya turned to the others.

"Just a little bit." Joey nodded.

"Right." Dark Link/Yami felt a twang of jealously as he scanned the group. "To get the point, I don't feel like living up to being the 'equal'. I'm not equal, and never will be. I don't have the Master Sword, a Triforce piece, or friends to back me up. I just want that guy to be gone so that I may feel better about myself. This is totally for selfish reasons that I'm giving you this." Link's shadow walked over to him, pulling something out of his tunic pocket. He gestured for Link to hold out his hand and he dropped a gold key into his hand: the Boss Key. "This is the key to Ganondorf's chamber. Get up there quickly. Oh, one more thing." He went over to Katara.

"You're alter ego." Dark Link/Yami put a hand on her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Katara snapped a bit in her usual, fierce manner.

"You want help, right?" the being snapped back. "Don't be so stubborn. I'm going to do something where that it will be dormant. You don't know the things Ganondorf would do to win, and using you would probably be one of them. Trust me." Katara had no choice and shut her eyes. She didn't feel any difference, whatever he did, but Katara saw him take his hand away.

"Um, I don't know why you'd want to help us, but thanks." Link held out a hand for handshake, but Dark Link/Yami scoffed and refused it.

"Handshakes are a waste of time. Go already." He turned.

"Alright…Thanks…" Link nodded, his blue eyes shining a bit with childish innocence.

"…" Dark Link/Yami looked like he was about to say something but suddenly he let out a piercing scream. The group jumped a bit, watching bewildered as he crumpled to the ground. He was writhing with pain, screaming something incoherently to himself.

_You traitor! Do you think I'm letting you get away that easily, you useless trash? _Ganondorf's voice was loud and booming in his head._Feel pain, you waste of spirit. You're lucky the Goddesses didn't give you life, aren't you? Then I could call you a waste of those horrid Goddesses' efforts, couldn't I? _

"Go…on…" Dark Link/Yami said in pained tone.

"But…" Link had a sick look on his face.

"Let's go!" Kaori grabbed Link's hand and dragged him to the door. The group gave their nods of approval to the shadowy being, which seemed to see them, but couldn't do anything back. He was only a paralyzed mess on the ground.

Once past the door, they slammed it shut and paused there for a moment.

"Link, are you okay, buddy?" Joey grabbed the shorter boy's shoulder.

"I don't know. It wasn't like I could feel his pain, but I felt this...enjoyment…And it made me sick, really sick." Link was shaking a bit.

"I hate to be blunt, but that's the nature of having a counterpart, especially a dark one." Navi said wearily. "The light feels enjoyment when the dark is diminished."

"How can I feel enjoyment when he helped us?" Link snapped at the fairy, uncharacteristically. "I can't!"

"Don't get snappy, Link." Kaori said, somewhat shocked.

"Listen, as long as you know that you didn't want to feel that, its okay." Navi explained.

"A-alright." Link, who had collapsed to his knees, stood back up. "Let's just go!"

"Will he be okay?" Katara stared at the door.

"Well, I don't know what Ganondorf did to him, but it didn't look like he had much time left." Navi was honest. "He helped us, though, so let's keep goin' for his sake."

_To Zelda, for a moment…_

Zelda had taken notice to Ganondorf's sudden anger. He had slammed his hands down on the organ, sending out-of-tune notes to echo through his large chambers. There was a hateful and sadistic glint in his yellow eyes and his hands just shook on the organ's keys.

"You useless thing!" he said aloud, laughing a bit in a scary manner.

_So, he did help them after all. _Zelda thought to herself. She knew that the dark servant of Ganondorf would help them. She knew it deep in her heart. He had helped her and Impa after all: the princess and a Sage. If he hadn't helped them, Ganondorf would have the upper hand, and she and a Sage would be dead. She wasn't sure if there was such a thing as "replacement" Sages.

The very thought of her dying though frightened her. Sure, if it came down to it, she'd face her demise with all the regality and grace that should be expected as the Royal Family's final member in existence. But she wanted to live. She wanted to see the end of the man that had tormented her Kingdom, all for power.

"He did it for you, princess." Ganon smirked widely, looking up at the pink prison that she was stuck in. "He helped them for you."

"…" Zelda made no response. She would make no effort to sink to his level and speak with him.

"That thing believed that he could feel. Feel? He couldn't think let alone feel anything." Ganondorf let out another insane laugh. "That's all he was…_a thing_. An object. Objects are supposed to be inanimate, right, princess?"

"…" Zelda just stared, her violet-blue eyes peering down at her pathetic captor.

"That thing probably loved you." Ganondorf snickered. "But a piece of coal is no match for a shining gem like you, princess."

_To Dark Link/Yami…_

There was an overwhelming feeling of pain in him right now. It was torture in its highest form. It was practically indescribable, it was that bad. There was burning, piercing, stabbing, mind-numbing pain. It was as if all of his blood was being drained, but there was no open wound. It just felt as if _something_ was pouring out of him, but there was no red around him. There was nothing, just a grey, stone floor that served as his deathbed.

_What is this? Can I even die? _He thought to himself. All his life he had been called a thing. But can things die? Well, they obviously felt pain. The searing pain that filled his head, his chest, his arms, his legs, his _everything _was unlike anything else he had felt before. He couldn't move. He was paralyzed, but the feeling was still there. It was as if some force was keeping him from moving.

And yet, he felt some form of clearance from this pain. He felt…calm? Just like overwhelming pain overtook him, overwhelming calmness came as a reward for his suffering.

Pain and serenity? What an odd combination, he thought. He wasn't enjoying this torture, by no means. He wasn't some kind of freak who enjoyed the feeling of pain. It was the worst thing he had felt in his short life. But there was a calm coming from it. It was as if he felt he had finally done something worthwhile.

_To the group…_

"Here it is." Navi said. "I'm assuming we're at his doorstep, now."

"There's no turning back now?" Joey turned.

"Were you planning on it?" Katara said, seemingly back to normal.

"No! Never! But I was saying that metaphorically." Joey rubbed the back of his head.

"Listen, can I say one thing real quick?" Link asked.

"Sure, dude." Aya turned, along with the rest of the group.

"Thank you." Link smiled his innocent smile. "I just thought I'd say that. I'd be nowhere without you all."

"Wow, we've gotten real mushy these past couple of days." Joey pondered. "We're this soft before."

"Must be what comes from the fact that we're about to decide the fate of the world." Aya added.

"I don't mean to be mushy…" Link trailed off, blushing a bit. "I just thought I owed it to you all to say that. You didn't have to come along, after all."

"Well…" Katara stopped.

"It's no problem, Link." Kaori reassured. "We're here to stick together, right?"

"Sticking together?" Link smiled.

"I have a space bubble." Aya said. "But I know what you mean."

"Right." Kurama nodded. "There's no need to thank anyone."

"What he said." Katara pointed to Kurama.

"What they all said." Joey pointed. "Listen, dude, we're together, and if we go down, you're coming down with us. But we are NOT going down. If you die, I'll be just beat the life back into you."

"I'll help!" Kaori waved.

"We'll help, I'm sure." Navi said offhandedly.

"Okay!" Link gave a thumbs-up. "Let's go, then!"

_To Ganondorf…_

Ganondorf was now observing this conversation via his magic. Zelda could see as well. Zelda nodded in approval from her prison. She was happy with their resolve. She had placed her trust in the right people, after all.

"Don't get too excited, princess." Ganondorf stared up at her with his piercing yellow eyes. The crystal lowered a bit. He placed his large hand on the crystal, gently rubbing his finger up and down it strangely. "Nothing's stopping me."

"Nothing will stop you?" Zelda laughed a bit defiantly. "I wouldn't get too cocky, either."

"Cocky?" Ganondorf laughed again. "I'm not egotistical by any manner. I merely know that they are nothings compared to me. You are getting too defiant, princess."

"…" Zelda just glared.

"You realize you are forever bound to me, princess." Ganondorf whispered.

"Just because you and I both hold a Triforce piece does not, by any means, mean I am bound to you." Zelda glared.

"But I hold you here, with me." Ganondorf's voice was still a whisper. "And once I get rid of these obstacles and finish my duties, you are still bound to me. I will keep it that way."  
"…" Zelda didn't say anything.

"Oh, don't think otherwise, princess." Ganondorf's voice was slowly growing to a creepier level. "I _will_ keep it that way." Suddenly, he was in her head, and they faced each other, princess to evil king, in some mental void. Were they really connected?

_I can't release you from your prison, princess. That would be too risky, wouldn't it? _Ganondorf walked in front of her. He towered over the princess's delicate frame, being tall and muscular. Her petite appearance seemed feeble to the man.

_You will never succeed. _Zelda glared, raising a hand to her chest. She tried to step back, but Ganondorf's large hand snatched her small wrist, fully gripping it.

_You won't get away, princess. _Ganondorf put his mouth to her ear, using his free hand to push some of her pale blond hair out of the way. _You can possess all of will and wisdom in the world. But I want you to remember that you will always be bonded to me. _

_I refuse to stay bound to a man as wretched as you!_

_You may say that, but I want you to that one thing. You are bound to me. You're pure spirit, golden with the light of wisdom, is tainted by the dark pall of power. You know, power is kind of like a disease. An incurable disease… It infects you, and it won't kill you, but it will eat away at your insides until there's nothing left but the urge for more power to ease that pain._

_You are a twisted person._

_Power, princess, is a wonderful thing. Let it infect me. But it's going to infect you too, princess. _They were face to face, and way too close for Zelda's comfort. _You will stay here, princess._

_I will not stay here. I will help return you to the void, the miserable prison that you belong in, Ganondorf. I will find a way to put you away for all of the suffering you've caused my people._

_You're people, princess, are useless, as is your resolve. You are to stay here, princess. I am the King of Evil, the King of Power! And you, my princess, are just another ornament in my throne room to prove that. _

**A/n: ** Uh, yay for crazy villains and stuff like that? Ganondorf really doesn't have a character in the game. But I have this thing for making him some sick, creepy weirdo. (See my Saria story if you want a reference for that, despite its awful-ness).

Well, uh… Review?


	52. Decisive Battle Part 1: Power

A/n: I really, honestly don't know how long I plan to make the Ganondorf battle

**A/n: ** I really, honestly don't know how long I plan to make the Ganondorf battle. Only a couple of parts, though part two will probably encompass other stuff. I'm going to _try_ and make the last chapters in one update, but like anyone really reads these author's notes to know that anyways.

Oh, and just for the record, _somewhat_ of a light tone has been kept during this battle. You can't expect me not to have this group at least a little goofy, even if they are deciding the fate of Hyrule. Not that it's ridiculous or anything.

**Disclaimer: **Whatever. You know the drill by now.

**Chapter 52: Decisive Battle Part 1: Power**

The party had made their way to the final door, the final thing that stood in the way of their ultimate goal. The door was large, and Link had used the Boss Key given to them by Dark Link/Yami and the gold chains that blocked it were discarded around them. A deep, sad melody came from beyond the door; an organ's notes echoing solemnly through the halls like a funeral's song.

"Who's playing the organ?" Joey turned to the group.

"It better not be Ganondorf or I'll puke." Katara said.

"Watch, it'll be Ganondorf and then Katara will heroically puke in the name of Hyrule." Aya smirked a bit.

"I'd pay money for that." Navi nodded.

"Are we talking organs like the stuff in your body?" Link turned.

"No, moron." Navi sighed loudly. "Organ as in the instrument. You can't play music on your liver or something."

"That'd be sweet, though." Link had that maniacal look on his face.

"Okay, now that that's out of our system, let's get back on topic." Navi intervened.

"Yeah, back to the Lord of Evil and crap like that." Aya nodded.

"Right." Kaori nodded as well.

The group gave one final nod to each other and Link pushed open the large doors, a light slowly engulfed the dark, dreary hall they were in. Stepping into the light, the doors slammed shut behind them and, once their eyes had adjusted to the light, they looked up at the giant chamber around them. Ganondorf, red cape and all, was sitting at an impossibly large organ, playing the depressing tune they had heard, and above the organ, floating in her pink prison, was lovely Zelda, hands on the wall of the crystal. She stared down at the group of heroes, her purple-blue eyes filled with both hope and worry as she scanned over them one final time before Ganondorf rose from his organ. The music took an abrupt stop and chamber seemed eerily quiet all of a sudden.

"You all…" Ganondorf said, not looking behind him. His hands remained on the keys of the organ. "You've come all this way. But it was a wasted effort, though I do give you credit for making it this far."

"I won't take any of that as a compliment." Joey crossed his arms.

"It wasn't meant as one." Katara looked off to the side.

"I know that!" Joey turned to his cohort.

"Save it for later." Navi whispered impatiently.

"How did such a pathetic group like you make it this far?" Ganondorf laughed. "You all would never have made it up here had that shadow fool not defied orders and helped you. Granted, he was useless to begin with."

"He wasn't a fool! And he wasn't useless, either!" Link cried.

"Oh, you say that to me, but you felt the enjoyment when he died, didn't you, 'Hero of Time'?" the dark Gerudo man, half-turned his head and his yellow eyes pierced straight through Link, who froze at the man's words.

"It…wasn't enjoyment!" Link had his fists clenched. "I didn't want to feel that. He helped us! You're the one who felt enjoyment! I felt nothing of the sort!"

"Ha!" Ganondorf's cynical laugh filled the chamber. "Such resolve. You lie to yourself though, Hero of Time, so you're called. You think that fool's sacrifice will help you suddenly win this battle? I've waited for this for a long time. I've waited for a long time to obliterate you all. This is your last stand, Hero of Time."

"You're wrong, Ganondorf." Link's blue eyes held not the childish naiveté that they normally held, but the strong, iron resolve of a hero. "I or my friends wasted any time, and we haven't come this far to lose."

"Yes, of course. But I have something else on my side." Ganondorf held up his hand, the back facing the group. A gold triangle was engraved on his hand, and it began to emit golden light. Link winced suddenly, and looked down, as his Triforce, courage, was doing the same thing. Zelda gasped from her crystal cell, and her Triforce of Wisdom was the same.

"I'll be empowered by this!" Ganondorf laughed loudly.

"So what, you have a Triforce on your side." Katara scoffed.

"You all are as nothing before the Triforce of Power. What is courage when ultimate power can crush it?" Ganondorf sent out a sudden blast of dark energy all through the room, and everyone was suddenly frozen in place.

"I-I can't help you now, Link." Navi sounded half in pain. "The darkness…is very strong…I-I'm sorry... But…it's so…paralyzing. I can't help…" Navi fell into Link's hands.

"Navi!" Link exclaimed.

"Put her in your bag, Link." Kurama ordered. "Keeping her out here will only worsen her condition. Let's go on without her."

"B-but…" Link looked hurt.

"We can't let Navi die, Link." Kaori reassured. "Just put her in your bag for the duration of the battle."

"R-right…" Link stuttered, but complied.

"No more small talk, 'Hero of Time'." Ganondorf rose up into the air all creepily like most villains, levitating in the air as dark energy burst from him crazily. "It's time. Draw your weapons!"

"More than happy too." Joey formed his sword and everyone else followed suit. Without a hitch, the battle began, rapidly starting without a further note.

Ganondorf wasted no time and began throwing balls of intense light magic at the party. The dodged most of them, but they were hit a couple of times. They weren't even halfway into the battle and already they were confused. Go figure.

"I know that boss was twelve times easier than this, but I'm assuming it's the same concept as the Forest Temple." Kurama said in his annoyingly calm voice, dodging Ganondorf's wild orb-throwing.

"What did we do at that the Forest Temple again?" Link twirled gracelessly towards the fox demon, miraculously twirling out of the way of an orb.

"Talking is useless, heroes." Ganondorf seemed ever-so-slightly annoyed with their jabbering.

"Reflect the orbs back at him." Kurama said bluntly, letting out an earth spell at the Evil King.

"Oh! That was like playing ball!" Link prepared himself and then Ganondorf and he were shooting the orbs back at each other. Link managed to shoot it back at the right time, where Ganondorf wasn't blocking, and he screeched a bit, mostly in annoyance, that he had gotten hit with his own spell. Kaori took the opportunity and shot a Light Arrow at him, causing him to briefly topple the ground in a stunned heap. Kurama and Joey took over from there, and slashed him several times each while Katara used an ice spell and Aya used another light spell. Ganondorf yelled in frustration and shot back into the air and began the process anew.

"Wow, I think we barely dented him." Joey said, wiping a bit of blood from his chin with the back of his hand.

"Well, he is the Lord of Evil." Aya said, dodging a spell and jumping aside.

"Ow, crap!" Link was hit with the orb and fell over, dazed. "That really hurt."

"Are you okay, Link?" Kaori called out above the loud crashing of the battle.

"Dandy!" Link hopped back, readying the Master Sword again to restart his "game" with Ganondorf. The two exchanged the orb a few times before Kurama distracted Ganondorf's attention with an earth spell, a few seconds long enough for Link to hit him with the orb and for Kaori to shoot off another Light Arrow. Katara slammed a huge ice spell into Ganondorf, one she had been preparing, and ice shards flew everywhere while a flurry of slashes rang out from Kurama and Joey again. Aya used a light spell. Ganondorf shot back into the air but let out a huge yell before a dark lightning spell shot down and hit everyone in the party.

"Oh, shit." Joey cursed and got back up. He turned his head and saw Kurama and Link doing the same thing. Katara stirred a bit and she got up, followed lastly by the last two girls.

"Oh my Din, an orb-thingy!" Link barely moved out of the way of an orb. The rest of the group briefly sighed at Link's ability to be stupid in when deciding the fate of the world.

"Could you please try to sound intelligent, Link?" Kaori asked loudly, notching an arrow into place, a hint of her random temper coming out.

"Huh?" Link turned, but quickly jerked his head back and blocked the orb, hitting back to Ganondorf.

"This is an amusing game, Hero of Time." Ganondorf smirked. "How long do you think this will last? Your efforts are futile."

"I have no idea what futile means, but we will defeat you! You won't get away with anything you've done to our friends!" Link had a serious look on his face.

"Futile means useless, for reference." Kurama smiled a bit, being brief.

"Oh, okay. Well, our efforts aren't useless!" Link called out.

"Ha, you amuse me. For the Hero of Time, you're brain is quite feeble, isn't it?" the King of Evil smirked, and insulting grin taking over his face.

"We tell him that all the time, but with love." Aya said, throwing out another light spell.

"Huh?" Link said, and finally managed to hit the orb back and Ganondorf to where he collapsed back to the ground. Kaori shot the Light Arrow off and Kurama and Joey slashed him again. Katara and Aya just continued to do what they had been doing the entire time. Ganondorf let out another storm of dark lightning, causing everyone to fall over again. The boys, like always, recovered quickly and stood back up, while all three girls took a minute to gather their wits.

_Meanwhile…_

"Oh, please…" Zelda had her hands on the walls of her pink, crystal prison, helplessly watching the battle unfold. She was impressed that the strange heroes had managed to hold their own for so long. Their system of teamwork seemed to work well for them. "I wish I could help…But I'm stuck here, aren't I?"

Zelda hated being the prisoner. She felt useless. She knew she wasn't that she was needed for everything to unfold properly, but still…being the prisoner bothered her quite a bit. Without a means of escaping this pink prison of hers, she couldn't aid in the battle. What if the heroes lost and it was her fault that because she only sat on the sidelines?

_Oh, stop these idle thoughts, Zelda!_ Zelda scolded herself. _They know I can't help them. I will aid them further when they defeat that man. _Zelda reassured herself.

Zelda just turned her eyes off to the side, spacing off a little from the battle. She was worried, yes, but she was sad. She would finally admit that. She hadn't had the chance to be sad. She had gone from seeing her father dead to being whisked away by Impa to being turned into a Sheikah boy for her own protection to coming back and seeing the heroes to being kidnapped. Her mind had blocked off that emotion for the sake of the situation. And now she was watching the fate of her land unfold. So many things had been sacrificed for that…

_So many things, indeed. _Zelda thought to herself, her violet eyes becoming slightly downcast. _So many things that didn't need to be lost. So many __**people**__that needn't be sacrificed._ Her mind wandered a bit…

_**(Flashback)**_

___"Princess, we have to hurry!" A young Zelda's head whirled around to the giant arched door of the castle gardens. Standing there in the door was a somewhat exhausted looking Impa, one hand reaching out towards the princess and one arm rested on the doorframe. "It's too late! We have to leave."_

_"Impa, what is going on?" Zelda asked. The young princess had heard a crashing sound, and many more after, and decided it safest to stay in the courtyard. She needed to wait, and the time was coming soon, but she couldn't afford to be injured in any minor squabbling caused by the castle guards and the townspeople. Apparently "minor squabbling" wasn't the problem._

_"It's too late; I'll repeat myself, princess." Impa walked briskly into the courtyard. "Ganondorf, King of the Gerudos, has invaded the palace."_

_"What?" Zelda's voice rose a bit, but a calming hand on her shoulder caused her to lower her voice. "B-but…wait .Why didn't anyone come for me sooner?"_

_"It happened suddenly, but I don't have much time to explain." Impa's crimson eyes darted back and forth, keeping alert and continuing her explanation. "Ganondorf has seemed to play his cards sooner than you prophesized, princess. His servants killed most of the guards so quietly that no one knew what was going on until…"_

_"…" Zelda's big, violet eyes stared straight into the crimson ones of her tall bodyguard. "Until what, Impa?"_

_"Until your father screamed." Impa said. "I believe your father has been killed." Impa's voice was suddenly very calming, almost motherly._

_"…" Zelda's eyes widened. A delicate hand placed itself over her mouth. Her mind was suddenly blank of all thought. "B-but…father? Why did he kill father? It was me he wanted right?"_

_"Yes, that is why I need to get you out of here as soon as possible." Impa said sternly. "Nothing good can come of this if you're killed, as well. He'll probably kill you and then take the throne for himself. If you're dead, then diplomatically speaking, no one is there to oppose him he does take it. No living member of the Royal Family will be left to protest."_

_"I…I…I'm aware of that." Zelda clenched her other fist. "But, what about the Heroes? I must get them the Ocarina of Time and their pendants! They need to open the Door of Time!"  
"I gathered those." Impa handed the Princess a small brown bag containing the items. _

_CRASH!_

_"…" Impa turned around, suddenly grasping Zelda in an iron embrace with one arm, pulling out a katana from her belt in the other. Standing in the doorway was several Gerudos, a malicious gleam in their eyes. _

_"The King wishes for you, Princess." the guard sneered, her long spear pointed at the delicate princess. "You, princess, are all he ever talks about. He said to destroy your bodyguard and take you to him, unscathed of course. I'm sure he'll finish the job soon enough, anyways."_

_"You will not lay a finger on her!" Impa's voice was intimidating._

_"Impa, they've got all the entrances blocked! We can't escape. Just let them take me!"_

_"Don't talk like that!" a voice from above rang and all looked up to see a small boy garbed in black hop from one of the windows. He looked eerily familiar, with a black sock cap and platinum blond hair. His eyes were partially hidden, but hints of crimson shone through. _

_"Who are you?" Impa asked._

_"Who I am is nothing of importance." The boy pulled out a large sword, charging forward rather speedily and slashing one guard down mercilessly. Soon, he and other two guards there were fighting. "Don't just stand there like this is a show! Go! Now! Ganondorf will come soon! Go!" _

_"Thank you!" Zelda yelled to the strange boy as Zelda effortlessly lifted her up and dashed out of the room. The princes caught only a few more brief views of the boy slicing down the last of the guards._

_**(End Flashback)**_

__Meanwhile, the battle with Ganondorf raged on, but both sides seemed to wearing down. While both seemed to be slowing down, neither was giving up. Instead, the battle just continued on, the same pattern repeating itself over and over. At that point, the party seemed to collectively have enough wounds for anyone to have in their entire lives, but they continued slashing, deflecting, and blocking attacks, throwing light, water, and earth spells left and right.

"He seems to have worn down a bit." Kurama said lightly, dodging a bolt of dark lightning. "I am assuming we will reach a climax here shortly."

"And you're so calm about this, why?" Joey asked in a frustrated tone, flicking his amber eyes at the redhead briefly.

"Hm…" Kurama didn't answer and instead dashed forward when the king collapsed to the ground. Joey growled and did the same and then decided to take notice that Kurama had is summon out. When he did that was beyond anyone, but the girls seemed to have followed the lead and done the same. "Am I the only one out of the loop, here?"

"Yes, you are." Kurama mentioned lightly. Kaori shot out another Light Arrow, and everyone threw everything they had in this supposedly final shot. Suddenly, dark lightning erupted from Ganondorf and he flew into the air, writhing in what seemed t like pain.

"H-how is that…possible?" He seethed, sounding near incoherent. "You…pathetic heroes…defeat the Triforce of Power?"  
"Stupidity has amazing powers…" Aya looked off the side, causing Kaori to laugh a bit.

"You…all don't take this seriously!" Ganondorf fell to the ground, coughing up blood that splattered to the floor in a messy pattern. It slowly trickled to the ground in a small trail out of the corner of his mouth. "H-heh…You all are too confident. Kids indeed. You will never bring this world back. I'll make sure of that…I…I'll…make sure of…that." Silence filled the room.

"Hey, look. Zelda!" Joey pointed up to the pink crystal floating down to the ground. The crystal shattered and Zelda stumbled a bit, regaining her balance and elegant aura in no time.

"Everyone." Zelda smiled. "You did it! You really did it!"

"Uh…Wow, it just hit me." Katara rubbed her forehead. They really had done it. Just when they all began to contemplate their amazing victory, a sudden crash, followed by violent rumbling broke their chain of thoughts.

"Don't celebrate quite yet." Kurama said.

"What's going on?" Link looked around the room.

"Oh no…That wretched man!" Zelda growled in a very un-princess-like manner. "We don't have much time! Let us hurry. He plans to take us down with him by destroying the tower!"

"Well, damn." Aya said.

"Let's not worry about it right now. We have to get out of here." Kurama said and the group ran out the door and down the corridors into the room where they had gotten the key from Yami/Dark Link.

"…." Zelda looked around the room and found a barred over door. She held up her hands and a pink light erupted, engulfing the door and causing the bars to disappear. "This door and others like it lead to a staircase on the outside of the castle. The only way we can get out, I'm afraid."

"Oh, crap. Heights." Kaori shook a bit.

"Hey, wait!" Link ran off when the group began to go out the door. "We can't forget him!" Link ran over to Dark Link, who was sprawled out on the ground, seemingly lifeless.

"No, we can't." Zelda said. Link looked sad, as did everyone else. "I will…give him a proper rest. But let us leave now." Link and Joey began carrying him and then the party began their official dash out the castle. A few Stalfos got in their way when the entered another room into the castle from the outside, but the girls, being annoyed, threw enough attacks that it only lasted a few minutes. Zelda let out a light that engulfed the party as they were running, healing their wounds.

"Thanks!" Link smiled.

"I don't feel like I'm going to fall apart anymore, thanks." Aya said in her usual sarcastic manner as they ran past ReDeads, managing to avoid them (since Link didn't have time to stun them with the Sun's Song. They were kind of busy at the moment.)

"What else do we have to do?" Katara asked as they all ran.

"We, the Sages, have to seal that man away." Zelda had her skirts lifted while she ran. "Also, you five have to decide the Triforce's fate once we get out of here. I believe you all will know what to do when the time comes."

"I hope it all turns out alright." Link said sadly, making sure not to drop Dark Link while they ran. "I don't want anyone else to die."

"We don't want to die, and we don't plan on dying for the record." Aya said.

"Don't worry, Link. We told you that already. Believe us, okay?" Kaori reassured.

Finally, the party made it to the first floor, where they ran out of the lobby area where the Sage's rooms were and out past the Beamos, who despite the falling debris and general destruction the castle was being reduced to, were still standing and still trying to pierce lasers through their skulls. Zelda was unaware of their harm, surprisingly enough, but Katara managed to jerk the Princess out of the way in time.

"Oh, my. In all of my adventures, I've never actually encountered those." Zelda had a hand over her mouth while they made it to the exit.

"They're everywhere." Link whined. They all clumsily tripped out the exit and ran over the Rainbow Bridge that the Sages had created, which disappeared the second they ran over it, practically collapsing to the muddy ground when they made it. Looking up once they regained their bearings, they saw the huge black tower collapse on itself and after a huge crash that probably echoed all of the land, and the tower was nothing more than an eerie pile of black rubble.

"He's dead. He's finally dead." Zelda sighed, breath of relief, a look of calmness taking over her lovely face. "Now, for the rest. The easier parts, I should say…"

"Hm…That's strange." Kurama turned around and so did everyone else. Usually, when Kurama said crap like that, they listened. Looking up there was a glowing erupting from the debris.

"Oh, crap! Did we screw something up?" Link turned to Zelda, who shook her head hesitantly, about as confused as everyone else.

"I don't think we did anything wrong…" she finally said.

"This is great." Kurama said as the glowing finally exploded, erupting into the sky, black. "I don't think we should consider ourselves finished yet."

**A/n:** So…uh… There's part one. Part two will probably encompass the Ganon-mutant thingamabob that appears after this battle (you know, the pig-horn-monster thing). So, yeah, bear with me here. The epilogue will be fairly long, and encompass all the finishing touches. So, woo-hoo. I'll shut up now.


	53. Decisive Battle Part 2: Into the Abyss

A/n: Okay, so part two with the mutant-thing and everything else that follows

**A/n: **Okay, so part two with the mutant-thing and everything else that follows. I personally thought this was the easy part of the Ganondorf battle. All you really do is smash its tail and shoot Light Arrows at its face or whatever it is that I had to do. Whatever, that's beside the point. Right… Now onto part two. Hopefully it's more exciting than Part one, which I sort of rushed, in my opinion.

**Disclaimer: **Whatever.

**Chapter 53: Decisive Battle Part 2: To the Abyss**

_"This is great." Kurama said as the glowing finally exploded, erupting into the sky, black. "I don't think we should consider ourselves finished yet."_

The glowing wasn't really a great prize for supposedly eliminating the incarnation of evil. But part of everyone's minds thought that said incarnation of evil wouldn't go down with more of a fight. He was the incarnation of evil for a reason. Whatever the case may have been, the erupting glowing, black light darkened the stormy skies even more before it finally faded way, tinting the skies a dark, eerie grey.

"Uh…I hear gurgling." Link said out of nowhere, causing everyone to look at the Hero of Time like _Now is so not the time for your stupidity. _"It's not my stomach either…I think."

"Um. Actually, Link may not be stupid this time around." Katara said, earning a depressed whimper from Link. "I hear something coming from the castle's rubble."

"Is it the giant pig with swords emerging from the rubble like it wants to eat you?" a familiar sarcastic voice broke the moment and everyone turned to Link's item bag, where everyone's favorite blue fairy was crawling out. "If so, then that's probably not good. I didn't sign up to fight giant pigs. Wait…I didn't sign up, but whatever."

"Navi!" everyone sans Zelda yelled in unison. The princess merely smiled, suddenly taking heed to light happiness in their voices. Maybe this strange fairy was very important.

"Sorry about that little episode, kiddies." Navi floated around Link's head, sarcasm, as usual, dripping in her voice. "Navi got a little headache. No darkness or giant, man-eating pigs are going to stop me now."

"Oh, Navi!" Link smiled, honesty in his blue eyes. "It was so hard fighting without you! Please don't…do that again!"

"I can't promise that I won't pass out like that again. Traveling with you youngsters gives us old fairies a headache like none other." Navi said jokingly. "But, whatever. Will everyone finally look at the giant pig coming towards us already?" Everyone did as the fairy said and everyone sort of stopped to contemplate the creature. It was a huge creature, one of the biggest they had come across, with a pig-like snout and long, curling horns. Glowing, yellow eyes with now pupils stared down at the party menacingly. It had a muscular body, very wide and strong-looking, like a real, large animal. Clutched each in long, sharp fingers were two large, pointy swords. Flowing beneath it was a weird looking tail.

"Um…Is that Ganondorf?" Aya turned. "If so, how did he become _that_?"

"Hm. Looking at it, this thing has the same aura signature." Navi mused. "I'm going on the wild assumption he's tapped into the full power of the Triforce of Power and it turned him into this."

"Why?" Kaori piped, pulling out her bow to be ready.

"Well, no one is supposed to hold such power." Navi said. "At least, in theory. If it's pure, yeah, sure, the person can hold, as long as the person himself/herself is pure, too. But Ganondorf is evil. It turned him into a proper form."

"Hm, because the Triforce is a relic of the Goddesses, correct?" Kurama tapped his chin thoughtfully. "No wonder, then. The Triforce is meant to be a pure, holy relic. Evil can't touch it."

"I love how we're talking casually while it's incinerating blocks of rubble around us." Aya broke the moment. "We should probably shut up and fight it so that it won't rampage across Hyrule or something stupid like that."

"Right." Link pulled out the Master Sword eagerly and ran up to the thing.

"Don't mindlessly run up to giant pigs, you moron!" Navi flew after him. Everyone else went to do the same but a giant ring of yellowish-looking fire, an abnormal kind of flame, burst up around Link. Link whirled around, causing Ganon (as Navi had established it) to knock the Master Sword out of his hand, and into a circle of creepy fire all its own.

"Everyone!" Link cried out.

"I don't think I can break through this crap." Joey touched the flame lightly, but winced a bit. "It really stings."

"It's probably generated by the Triforce of Power…" Zelda said worriedly.

"Great." Joey muttered.

"I can't fight without everyone, though, Navi!" Link looked up at the pixie, his eyes filled with worry.

"Listen…" Navi flew to his ear. "You have to. Actually, this will give everyone a chance to help you by doing what they have to do. Pull out the Megaton Hammer, your alternative, I suppose, and lets see what you can do, okay?" Navi's tone had a hint of motherliness to it. "Can you please try? You're not alone, I'm here too. But you have to try your best, okay, oh great Hero of Time?"

"O-okay." Link pulled out the giant hammer. "Let's try. I'll try my hardest, everyone. Please, figure out what you have to do, like Navi just said!" The green-clad hero ran into the battle.

"Zelda, what is that we do?" Katara turned, fists clenched.

"The Spirits?" Zelda looked as if she were composing herself. _Calm down, Zelda. Don't get flustered! Oh, Nayru, the heroes are acting more collected that you! How pathetic! _She scolded herself and turned to the five remaining heroes. "Like I said earlier, you have to choose the fate of the Triforce."

"What are the Sages going to do?" Kaori asked.

"We have to do our part and seal Ganondorf in the Evil Realm." Zelda had her arms crossed. "Maybe you all can base your decision off of that? The Sages and the Spirits do parallel each other, after all."

"Okay…" Joey stopped. "Wait, we can't just have a conference about this when our buddy is fighting evil's pig mascot over there!" That fiery temper was coming out at the worst of moments.

"Joey, calm down!" Katara stepped on his foot.

"Ow…" Joey whimpered.

"I'm assuming the rest will come naturally." Kurama said.

"Yes, it should." Zelda smiled. "I have faith. Be aware. This is the Spirits' job: to guard the Triforce and the Sacred Realm. You kind of guard the Sages, too, I suppose, while we guard Hyrule. We guard each other. We'll cover you if you cover us!"

"Sure thing." Aya said.

"We'll make our move as soon as we know yours." Zelda reassured. "Perhaps I can make a mental connection right now. If you'll give me a moment, you can think of your decision. Think of everything that has happened. Please, think carefully. I trust you all to make the right decision."

_To Link, real quick…_

Link was too naïve and dimwitted to realize he was running in between the legs of some bipedal, pig creature. If Joey were participating in the battle, he surely would have commented on the perverted nature of it all, but Link's fragile mind was far too innocent for something like that. He was running in between the legs to repeatedly smash the tail of Ganon with the Megaton hammer, then, when the thing fell over in stunned heap, Link would shoot a Light Arrow at it and/or smash it some more with the Megaton Hammer.

"This is going to take forever!" Link whined, dodging a dark magic attack by rolling out of the way.

"He's the Lord of Evil for a reason, dude." Navi said. "Now!" She yelled and Link threw the hammer down and shot a Light Arrow at Ganon's head. It screeched in pain and Link ran around quickly, grabbing up the Megaton Hammer in the process, and finally hitting the monster some more.

"I guess, but still!" Link sighed. "What…if I can't defeat this thing?" He said hesitantly, running out of the way of an attack.

"Oh, cut it with the self doubt already." Navi scolded. "The Goddesses chose you to be the Hero of Time for a reason. You can win. If you don't, the Sages and Spirits, your friends, can't do what they have to do. Can you please at least pretend you're confident about something for once?"

"Yes…" Link nodded, but then nodded again, more defiantly. "Right!" Link shot off another arrow. "Take that!" Link smashed the Megaton Hammer into Ganon's tail again.

_Back to everyone else…_

"Things aren't looking very bright right now…" Joey sighed loudly. "We barely have a clue what we're doing, the Master Sword is surrounded by a ring of freaky fire, and Link is fighting Ganon by himself. I feel kinda bad."

"I have faith in him." Kaori smiled.

"Hm…Link isn't the most intelligent person in the world, for sure." Kurama tapped his chin. "But I have a feeling that, with a little determination, he'll get the job done. He has grown a lot in the time we've been with him."

"We all have…" Aya trailed off. "What about him, though?" She stared down a Dark Link's body. "What do we do with him?"

"Zelda said that she'd give him proper dedication after this was all finished." Katara smiled. "I'm sure he'll get the recognition he deserves."

"Right." Kurama nodded.

"Everyone, I have a connection to the Sages. Would you join me?" Zelda turned.

"Um…sure…How do you do that?" Joey rubbed the back of his head.

"I'll handle that." Zelda nodded. Soon, the five Spirits were, mentally of course, in the Chamber of Sages, each Sage on their pedestal.

"Okay, how do we handle this bastard, again?" Nabooru had a hand her hip, the other hand clenched in a defiant fist like she was ready to beat someone's brains in.

"Um…Hasn't Rauru explained the plan ten times already?" Saria asked innocently.

"Well, the old guy isn't getting through to me okay? I fall asleep when old people talk!" Nabooru growled.

"We're to seal Ganondorf away in the Dark Realm." Zelda intervened, sighing a bit. "I'll be rather blunt for the sake of time. We have to seal him away immediately after the Spirits here do their job."

"Oh, yeah…Wait, we go first?" Katara asked.

"Well, I suppose that makes sense seeing as how Ganondorf has a third of the Triforce." Kurama shrugged.

"Will you act fazed for once?" Joey turned to the redhead in annoyance.

"And what would that accomplish?" Kurama retorted.

"Whatever…" Joey gave up.

"Let's get to thinking!!" Kaori interrupted, catching both boys' attention. There as a silence.

"Don't strain yourselves, Spirits." Rauru said calmly. "Think of what is best for the world. Think of what you think would bring prosperity to this world. We trust you."

"You're initial job is to open and then close the door to the Sacred Realm. By doing so, you will seal the fate of the Triforce. This is a great expenditure of power, though." Impa said. "I don't know exactly how strong

the previous Spirits were, but they may have died in the process. Are you willing to risk that, for the sake of a world you don't even come from?"

"I think I am." Kaori smiled. "I mean, I've been here for so long that it almost feels homey to me. I want to help Link and you guys."

"Ditto." Aya gestured to the Spirit of Wind. "There's no need to question our loyalty to Hyrule. I speak for all of us when I say we're one-hundred percent up for it."

"Right." Katara turned to the other four Spirits. "What's our decision?"

"Let us give you a mental connection of your own. Please, weigh your possibilities." Rauru said and flash of light gave the Spirits their own little connection.

"What do we do?" Aya turned.

"Hm." Kurama thought for a moment. "It's split in thirds? The Triforce, I mean."

"Yeah…" Aya turned to the redhead.

"The Triforce, if whole again, will return to the Sacred Realm where it was before." Kurama said.

"That's a point." Katara agreed. "Wouldn't that just set it up for something like this to happen again?"

"Exactly." Kurama nodded. "If we return it to the Sacred Realm, we're only setting up so that history can repeat itself again."

"So, we shouldn't let that happen." Aya said. "We don't want anyone to be put in this position again. Nor do we want Hyrule in danger again, right?"

"The whole point of this was to save Hyrule!" Kaori nodded. "Link would agree if he were in on this conversation."

"So, how are we doing this?" Joey asked. "Are we keeping it split up?"

"Yes." Kurama nodded. "I believe that it's the best decision."

"I may be acting pessimistic by saying this, but couldn't Ganondorf get out of the Dark Realm with the Triforce of Power?"

"I have a feeling it will be well sealed." Kurama turned to the blond. "Besides, he'll be weak enough once we defeat him. The Triforce of Power is nothing without the other two around, right?"  
"Okay, let's go for it then." Joey raised his fist. They broke the mental connection and turned around to the Sages, who were all waiting.

"I believe we've come to the most logical decision."

_To Link, again…_

_Holy crap! Oh my Nayru! It's still kicking! Jeez! _Link was cursing to himself again and again. He was almost sick of repeating the process, but, while it seemed to wear the giant monster down, it seemed to be lasting forever. At the rate it was going, it would be days before he even got the ring of fire down.

"How long will this take, Navi?" Link had asked the question enough to the point where the fairy wanted to slap him in the head every time he asked it.

"I've answered this a million times already." Navi growled, flying as fast as Link was running to smash the thing's tail again. "I have no idea!"

"Okay, okay…" Link whined and slammed down the large hammer, earning a screech of pain from the giant pig. He shot of a Light Arrow and began mercilessly smashing the hammer in.

_Nothing seems to be working that well…_ Navi thought to herself. _Don't tell I'm right?_ Navi halted all pessimistic thoughts. He WOULD win, that was final. Navi scolded herself for even thinking that Link would lose…but he didn't have the Master Sword or his friends at the moment. He seemed considerably more trouble without their help. _Will he lose because of that? Did Ganondorf know that?_

_To the Sages and Spirits…_

"That's your decision?" Rauru seemed somewhat taken aback by the collective decision of the Spirits. "You want to keep it split apart?"

"Listen; do you want history to repeat itself?" Aya said, moving her hands a little. "Let Link and Zelda keep their thirds and let Ganondorf keep his. We're sealing him away, anyways."

"Right." Zelda agreed, earning another "Wtf?" look from Rauru. "I believe their decision is the right one. Good thinking."

"I like that idea." Saria's light voice rang.

"Good thinking, kiddos." Nabooru crossed her arms over her chest.

"I was right about you all." Ruto winked.

"Good." Impa was blunt.

"Yes, brothers and sisters!!" Darunia's loud voice boomed through the chamber, causing everyone to nearly fall of their platforms and give Rauru a heart attack.

"Oh, my." Rauru regained his balance.

"Hey, big guy." Nabooru turned to Darunia. "Let's tone it down a bit. I don't think the old guy can handle it. He's only, like, what? Two million years old?"

"Oh…I will be careful, sister." Darunia rubbed his neck, embarrassed.

"Ignoring that." Rauru collected himself.

"Wait, how's Link doing?" Kaori whirled around.

"Let's stop this conversation." Zelda agreed. "Let us help him now." The Spirits and Zelda managed to mentally put themselves back on the battlefield, so they were together again physically and mentally. Link seemed to sort of be okay, repeating a process of smashing and shooting Light Arrows while complaining about it to Navi.

"The fire's weakened!" Zelda exclaimed. "Now, if only I could help him stun the… monster…"

"H-hey…princess…" everyone suddenly whirled around to see the supposedly lifeless Dark Link barely standing. He still looked near death, and like he would actually die at any given second, but he also seemed to be forcing himself to stand. "I-I h-help you."

"You! Aren't you supposed to be dead?" this was too much for poor Joey to handle.

"Yes, you moron." Dark Link snapped. "But I don't have much time left."

"I'll trust you." Zelda nodded as did everyone else.

"Thanks again, dude." Aya nodded.

"Why are you doing this?" Kaori asked.

"Hm… Because I want to be useful at least once in my life. I can't let my light side have all the fun, can I?" Dark Link stalked over to the ring of fire holding the Master Sword. "Aren't you five supposed to be doing something?"

"Right." Zelda whirled around to the five, her blond hair getting a bit in her face. "We'll handle this; you focus and do your part!"

"Okay…" Kurama just shrugged.

"You idiot!!" Dark Link screamed out.

"Huh?" Link looked over in his direction and his blue eyes widened, and Navi just blinked her aura in confusion.

"Wasn't he a corpse just a minute ago?" Navi looked down at Link.

"What are you doing alive?! Ganondorf killed you!!" Link screamed back.

"Technically he has. He'll accomplish his goal any second now! Just move out of the way you dumbass!!" Dark Link was blunt. "Now, princess!!" Zelda's whole body began to glow a pink color and bright yellow and pink beam shot out of her hands and slammed into Ganon's forehead, causing the creature to scream loudly in pain and crumple, stunned by the light blast.

"Okay, now." Zelda screamed to the Spirits. The five were facing each other, and they looked as if they were concentrating. Link observed them, and a sudden realization hit him.

"Navi! They're doing it!" Link desperately turned to the fairy. "What…if…No! They can't! But we can't stop them, can we?"

"No…Link calm down!" Navi yelled. They turned back to the five, who were each glowing their respective colors and it seemed as if each of them weren't even really there anymore. Each of their eyes was clouded over in the glowing. Link felt a slight stinging pain and he looked down at the Triforce of Courage on his hand, that was glowing gold, and he noticed Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom was doing the same thing, as was the Triforce of Power, which was now fully noticeable on the stunned creature's hand.

"What's going on?" Link winced at the stinging.

"They're determining the fate of the Triforce." Navi said nonchalantly. "It appears they know what they're doing." The collective glowing, green, blue, red, yellow, and purple, seemed to become one and suddenly it completely erupted, as the black light had earlier. A sudden force knocked Link back, knocking him to the ground, lying on his back. Zelda suddenly lurched forward, but Dark Link, ran over to her, and held her waist, keeping her balanced.

"Oh…my…" Zelda said, keeping down Ganon to her best ability. "What…was that?"

"I don't know princess, but if you pass out and break your hold, I'm afraid that we're all SOL." Dark Link said, and his hand was glowing a bit. "I'll give you little boost, even if it is kind of dark."

"Thank you." Zelda nodded. The glowing ended and, when it cleared, the five were on the ground, seemingly unconscious.

"What the…heck?" Link placed a hand on his forehead and sat up. It appeared the stunned Ganondorf felt the same sudden ache as he and Zelda. Now he seemed angrier, like he knew what the Spirits had done.

"Balanced, princess?" Dark Link let go of Zelda when she nodded her head. The dark entity ran over to the Master Sword and yanked it out of the ground now that the ring of fire had completely disappeared. "Link! Catch!" Dark Link suddenly threw the Master Sword at Link, who looked surprised, but caught it. Link dropped the Megaton Hammer and swung the Master Sword, sort of happy to have it back.

"Thanks!" Link yelled. "For everything…uh…whatever I'm supposed to call you."

"Doesn't matter. Happy to help." Dark Link ran back over to Zelda. Link and Navi watched as he leaned into the beautiful princess and whispered something in her ear that caused her eyes to widen. Then, with a hand on her shoulder, the Dark Link gave one final glance to Link, and then whispered something else to Zelda before he began to dissipate, little dark blue orbs of light disappearing into the sky.

"…" Zelda looked downcast for a moment, but suddenly looked up at Link and then glanced at the Spirits collapsed on the ground. "This is going to end! Sages! Now!!" In the Chamber of Sages, everyone caught the message. Rauru turned to the Sages and began to speak.

"Now is the time to end this, everyone!" Rauru's voice boomed through the chamber. "Let us seal the King of Evil forever, in a horrible place that he belongs in! The Spirits have done their part: the Triforce is separated! Now, go!!" Rauru lifted his arms in the air, and a yellow glowing covered him. Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru followed suit, and each began to glow green, red, blue, purple, and orange, respectively.

Back on the battlefield, Link turned to Zelda, who let go of her hold on Ganon. Link turned to the creature and still seemed a bit dazed from the blow by Zelda. Zelda suddenly dropped to her knees, and a pink glowing covered her.

"Link, now!" Zelda yelled, covered in a bright pink light.

"O-okay." Link turned to Ganon.

"No hesitation, Link." Navi said. "Don't make all of this go to waste!"

"Right." Link ran forward and began slashing Ganon's head. He screeched each time. "Now…don't come back!" The Master Sword was glowing a light blue-silver color, and Link felt overcome with the power of the sword. Finally, Link rammed his sword into Ganon's head. Zelda suddenly rose and held her hands above her head. A bright glowing of all the Sages' colors, including pink, blanketed Ganon as he screamed and writhed in pain. Link yanked the Master Sword out of Ganon's head and stepped back, looking at the situation. Ganon's Triforce of Power was glowing as well. Link turned to his friends, and their unconscious bodies were still lightly glowing, completing the job they were meant to do.

"Curse you, everyone…" Ganondorf's barely coherent voice echoed through the battlefield. "Curse you, Hero of Time…Curse you, you wretched creation of mine…you useless shadow…Curse you Zelda, Sages…and your horrible friends, Hero of Time….I…will come back…That isn't a lie…I will…come back…Aah!!" A bright flash that blinded Link, Navi, and Zelda erupted, and finally, Ganon disappeared. A silence filled the area…

It seemed as if _finally_ it was over…_Finally_…

"Zelda?" Link turned to the princess, who fell back to her knees, hand on her chest.

"Oh, I'm fine." Zelda breathed lightly. "I'm just catching my breath…Please, go to your friends."

"Right." Link ran over to his friends, staring at their unconscious figures. "Everyone?"

"Well, they're not dead." Navi was as blunt as always, floating over Kurama, and then landing on his chest. "Yep, Kurama's breathing at least. What about everyone else?"

"Um…" Link quickly inspected everyone. "Oh, thank Nayru, they're all…alive."

"That is quite a feat." Zelda walked over to them. "The previous group of Spirits, as legends go, died with such an expenditure of power. Perhaps the legends are wrong?"

"I really don't care about the legends, Zelda." Link smiled. "I just wanted my friends to survive. They're first real friends I've ever had!"

"Oh, that's great motivation." Zelda nodded. She smiled lightly at Link, who was busy trying to stir Kaori awake. He had her propped up, arm around her shoulder.

"Kaori? Kaori? Kaori?" Link kept repeating her name.

"That's obviously doing a lot of good." Navi said sarcastically.

"Kaori? Kaori? Kaori?" Link didn't listen.

"Link! Do something different, please." Navi growled.

"Oh…Kaori?" Link jostled her a bit.

"Ah…" Kaori stirred and pathetic whimper escaped her mouth. "Huh….? Is…it…over? Wait…Am I dead…? Wait…Link?"

"Kaori!" Link wrapped the girl in a giant hug, desperately embracing her in what seemed to be pure happiness. "Oh, I'm so happy you alive! I thought you were going to die! Thank you for not dying!!"

"Um…You're welcome?" Kaori just smiled and accepted the embrace.

"Well…that's a headache that'll…last awhile." Kurama said suddenly. The redhead was sitting up, hand pushing some long, red strands out of his face.

"I…want…cheese with that…oh, and some of that green stuff too…" Joey suddenly broke the moment. The blond groggily sat up, amber eyes glazed over in sleepiness.

"What?" Aya sat up, too. "What about cheese and green stuff?"

"What's green stuff?" Katara sat up, sharing in the collective moment of confusion.

"I won't ask." Kurama shrugged his shoulders, and looked to Navi, who was floating aimlessly around the group, inspecting each of her little hens to make sure they were okay.

"Good, you're all fine." Navi plopped herself down on Kurama's head. "Sorry, Kurama, Link's preoccupied at the moment." Link still had Kaori in a monster hug.

"Oh, should I cue the love music?" Joey smirked, seeming to have collected his bearings.

"You're one to talk." Katara turned.

"What's that implying?" Joey glared back.

"You still don't realize it? Or are you being difficult?" Katara rose to her feet.

"I can see up your skirt, Kat." Joey smirked.

"You pervert! I just nearly die with you, we just saved the world, and this is what you say?" Katara began kicking him in the shoulders since he was sitting down. "You moron! You pervert! Be a man and just say you like me already!!"

"Ow…Crap! Damn, Kat!" Joey whined in protest. "Okay, okay, if I admit it, will you spare me anymore pain?"

"Yes!! Just admit it already!!" Katara screamed.

"Right, I like you, really like you! Ow! Shit! I like you! Ow, shit again!!"

"What a romantic confession of love, there." Navi sighed. "Sadly, that's how I figured it would go down."

"Seems to fit them, doesn't it?" Aya rolled her eyes.

"I'm done!" Link let go of Kaori, his usual goofy expression back on his face.

"You all are…very funny." Zelda laughed, a delicate hand over mouth. "But…may I…explain some things to you?"

**A/n: **Sadly, that's how Katara and Joey's love confession ends up. To be expected, right?

Obviously none of the main characters die. Why would I kill them off? They're awesome? I figured I'd give Dark Link one more moment of glory seeing as how he didn't really play a big part in the story until the end.

Oh, and what all did Dark Link/Yami say to Zelda? Hm…Maybe I'll leave that as one of those things you'll never know. Use your imaginations, kay?

Uh…Final chapter up ahead, folks. Be happy. REVIEW!!


	54. Bittersweet

A/n: Yay, final chapter

**A/n: **Yay, final chapter! I've been working on this thing for close to two years…or something like that… Jeez, it's sad when you can't remember how long you were working on a story. Oh, well. Curse those long periods of time where the internet stopped working…or school...well, you get the picture, right?

Thanks and whatnot will be given at the end of the chapter there, folks. Everything will be done then.

Let's move on!!

**Disclaimer: **What do you think? Read the other 53 chapters, buddy.

**Chapter 54: Bittersweet**

_"You all are…very funny." Zelda laughed, a delicate hand over mouth. "But…may I…explain some things to you?"_

"Right…Let me get their attention real quick." Navi turned to the warring, or whatever they were doing, Spirits of Fire and Water (obviously they were opposites for a reason). "Joey! Katara! Zelda needs to speak!!"

"Oh, sorry!" Katara turned, stopping her assault on Joey, who sighed in relief.

"Okay…" Zelda trailed off and shut her eyes. Before they really had a chance to comprehend the situation, they were surrounded by one of the blue warping crystals, the ones that had always taken them to the Chamber of Sages. This time, though, they were all seemingly floating in the skies, above Hyrule. "I have so much to explain to you all."

"It can't be that much." Joey said.

"Yeah, we won." Link cocked his head.

"This is my entire fault." Zelda began. "All of this came with my inability to fully understand the concepts of the Sacred Realm and my own prophecies. I was young…There was no way I could even remotely understand the power and sacrifice that came with the Triforce." Zelda rubbed the Triforce of Wisdom gently, almost in remorse.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"I tried to take the Triforce's power myself." Zelda looked up, her violet eyes sad. "I knew Ganondorf was trying to get it. I was so young and overly confident. I thought I could take it myself, before I even understood the true meaning of my dreams. Impa tried to explain that it wasn't that easy…but I was so stubborn…I didn't listen.

So, because of me…all of this happened. I didn't want Hyrule to be shrouded in darkness. But it happened so suddenly. I should have helped you all myself. Perhaps it would have been easier on you that way."

"We were fine." Aya said. "We figured it all out eventually, right? We owe you!"

"Right." Kaori nodded, smiling.

"Without you, we probably wouldn't be here right now. After all, you're the one who told us everything we needed to know." Kurama explained.

"I appreciate your thanks." Zelda looked up and smiled. "But I don't deserve it. I wasn't the one who risked my life numerous times to break the curses and free the Sages. I wasn't the one who opened the Door of Time and released the Master Sword. You all are. If anyone deserves appreciation, it's you six."

"You and Dark Link deserve thanks, too!" Link clenched his fists. "You and the Sages, too! Without your help, or Dark Link's help or the Sages' help, none of us would have gotten that done!"

"We owe you a lot Zelda." Aya added. "Remember that, okay? You are just as important as we are."

"Thank you." Zelda smiled again. "But because of me, you all lost five years of your life. You teenage years are gone!"

"Uh, well that kind of sucked, but we got over it." Joey shrugged and got hit on the arm by Katara.

"Now that I feel better…I feel like a weight has been lifted telling you that." Zelda seemed happier. "I have…news for you."

"Huh?" Joey said in unison with Link.

"You five come from another world." Zelda began. Link twitched a bit, a sudden cloud over his mind. "You don't really belong here…Actually; you were ripped from your lives and world and thrust into this situation, with a position that was chosen by the Goddesses themselves!"

"True…I guess." Joey rubbed his neck. "The Goddesses chose you to guard the Sacred Realm, determine the fate of the Triforce, guard the Sages, and, in result, oversee that the Triforce stays as you decided it."

"I figured as much." Kurama caught on.

"I don't want to make anything worse for you." Zelda looked to the side. "I feel bad enough for all that I've made you go through. "But…I'm afraid you all can never go back to your worlds."

"…" there was a silence.

"So…I'll never see my brother again?" Katara asked.

"No…unfortunately." Zelda looked down.

"I suppose my other friends will be fine without me." Kurama already seemed to have seen this coming, for he seemed fairly resolved. "My mother is well taken care of as we speak. She was to be married the last time I was there."

"Whatever, everyone at home will…be fine without me…Though, I'll miss my family a little." Kaori sighed. Aya nodded, like her situation was the same.

"Oh, I had no real attachments to that world, though my little buddy might be lost. He'll live, though." Joey smiled.

"The Goddesses will not allow you to go home." Zelda sighed. "You are to stay here, and oversee the Triforce's fate yourselves…For the rest of your lives. If you stay here then you can live your lives here from now on. It should go that your kids should take on the position that you have now."

"Right." Joey smirked a bit but stopped at Katara's icy glare.

"I'm happy you all are staying!" Link cheered. "I mean, I know you like your worlds…but…I…deep down…wanted you stay with me!"

"Oh, well. If I'm stuck somewhere, at least I like the place I'm stuck at." Joey seemed fine.

"That's a plus, for sure." Aya shrugged.

"Now… Allow me to make up for my mistakes." Zelda said. "Allow me to return you to your childhoods, and live relive your teenage years. Make up that time you lost!"

"What?" everyone looked surprised.

"Give me the Ocarina of Time, Link." Zelda held out her hand. Link looked at the delicate artifact. "I'll return time to how it should be. Please, relive your lives. Thank you so much for what you did."

"What about Dark Link?" Link asked suddenly.

"You said you'd give him a proper dedication!" Kaori added.

"I'll live up to my promise. I wouldn't dream of forgetting him. He did help." Zelda held up the Ocarina of Time to her lips, but before she began, she spoke once more. "Return the Master Sword to its pedestal, and seal the Door to Time." Zelda began playing the slow, enchanting lull of Zelda's Lullaby, a blue crystal encased the party and then a familiar feeling of time travel took over all of them, causing them all to black out.

_A little while later…_

_I guess it's finally over, isn't it? It was fun…_ Navi was the only one awake. She was inspecting each of her party's unconscious figures. All six of them were back in their child forms. Each looked knocked out cold, too. She went over each of them. Link was saying something incoherent in his unconsciousness, as if he were taking a nap. It was something about cuccos and tribal dances. Joey was drooling, a small puddle collecting on the cold stone floors of the Temple of Time. _Great, the drool of time? _Kurama looked about as flawless as usual, even in his unconsciousness. Each of the girls looked normal, delicate and peaceful, in their sleep.

_Link and Joey aside, they all seem fine. If only Joey wouldn't drool on the temple floor! _Navi rolled her eyes. _I guess now is as good as any._ Navi had made the decision long ago, at the start of the journey almost, that she would leave as soon as it was done. She was only supposed to be there temporarily; even the Great Deku Tree said she wasn't required to be with them the entire time. She was to return to her place in the forest, stealthily and not to return.

She was fine with that. The forest is where she belonged. But she didn't realize how hard it would be to leave. She really had grown attached the kids. That was totally out of character for her. She was even bonded the idiot she called her partner, Link. She did feel bad, too. She didn't believe in them, and they pulled through anyway and won. The five Spirits managed to accomplish their goal without dying, as well. _Note to self: never underestimate determined teenagers ever again._ She laughed a bit.

_They don't need me anymore. They'll be fine without me. Bye, everyone. Don't die._

Navi flew away, out the window of the Master Sword room, giving one final glance to the party, smiling a bit while doing so.

_A little while after that…_

"Oh, my head hurts!" Link whined first. Joey just got up and wiped the drool off of his face, taking no heed to the drool on the floor.

"Well, it appears Zelda lived up to her promise." Kurama looked up at himself and everyone else. Everyone was back in their kid forms, and the Master Sword was stuck in its pedestal. The Spirits still had the pendants around their necks.

"We really are back." Aya looked around. "Do you think that the Castle Town is back to normal? I mean, last time I checked, it was a disaster in our child forms."

"I'm sure." Kurama nodded. "If I understood what Zelda meant, then she probably fixed time, and we're back in normal Hyrule, before Ganondorf destroyed everything."

"Where's Navi?" Link looked around. "She's…gone?"

"…" Kurama had a look of contemplation of his face. "She might have left."

"Why would she leave?" Link looked up at the redhead.

"Well, you are Hylian after all. Maybe she went back to the forest, where she felt she belonged." Kurama explained. "She did her part, maybe she wants us to go on and do everything else without her?"

"I guess…for some reason, I feel happy for her, though." Link smiled. "We…I put her through so much trouble. I really rely on her, don't I?"

"That's not a bad thing." Kaori said. "I mean, she was a friend, right?"

"If you get worried enough, we can find her." Katara said. "We'll go after her. Let's give it some time. Maybe she'll be back."

"I won't…wait for it." Link smiled. "For now, I'll just look for her on my way. If worse comes to worse, we'll all search for her together, right?"

"Right." Everyone seemed to understand.

"Now, let us leave." Kurama said. The group left the Master Sword room. Looking behind them, they saw the giant stone doors creeping together, and finally, a light "slam!" signaled that the Door of Time was shut for good. The three Spiritual Stones each shined their respective colors before disappearing.

"Where'd those thingys go?" Link pointed to the pedestal the Spiritual Stones were on.

"Oh…Uh…" Joey rubbed his head. "Good question. I have absolutely no idea."

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Aya turned. "They probably went back to the people they belonged to. They _did_ belong to the Kokiri, Gorons, and Zoras before we took them."

"Oh, so Ruto gets to give it someone else now." Katara seemed satisfied that, officially, no one was after Joey anymore.

"Why didn't the desert ladies get a stone?" Link turned.

"Actually, that's a good question." Aya tapped her chin. "If the Kokiri, Zoras, and Gorons got one, how come the Gerudos didn't get a stone…Or the Hylians, for that matter?"

"Hm. A mystery we have plenty of time to ponder." Kurama said off-handedly.

"We'll figure it out eventually." Kaori shrugged.

"How long are we going to stand in here?" Joey whined. "Let's go!" Joey pumped a fist in the air.

"Yeah! What he said!" Link threw a fist in the air as well. Both the blonds charged out of the building and into the town before Kurama or the girls could protest.

"Ever enthusiastic, as always, I see." Kurama placed his hands casually in his pockets, as usual. "Shall we chase after them before they hurt themselves?"

"Right." Aya rolled her eyes.

"Why can't those two be all gentlemanly like Kurama?" Katara seethed.

"Hey, you're the one who beat a love confession out of Joey." Aya said.

"Good point; he is my idiot after all." Katara smirked. "Not how I imagined it going down though."

"I really wouldn't say Link even knows he has feelings for me." Kaori scratched her cheek.

"Link would forget his name if we weren't here." Aya said.

"Hm, perhaps." Kurama said calmly.

"Right." Katara nodded. "At least you know he likes you, right?"

"I know." Kaori was pink slightly, but she nodded, like she knew. "Unfortunately I realize that. This is sad, seeing as how I don't usually notice these kinds of things."

"What about…you know?" Katara nudged Aya with her elbow.

"What about it?" Aya lifted an eyebrow.

"…" Kurama just had his usual calm expression, completely unfazed, though the lift in his eyebrow proved he knew what Katara was talking about. "I prefer quieter occasions for moments like that, wouldn't you say? Beating a love confession out of someone doesn't seem like the style I'd go with."

"Right, I'll go along with him." Aya gestured. "He's smart."

"At least he is." Katara looked to the side. "Meaning, at least on f the guys is sane."

"We're lucky." Kaori sighed loudly.

"I believe we found our idiots." Kurama pointed a finger calmly, smoothly changing the topic from him to Joey and Link's antics.

"He's good." Katara had an amused expression on her face.

"Hm, I don't know what you're referring to, Katara." Kurama began walking towards the two blonds, seeing as how Link was about to fall into the fountain. "I'd best keep Link from getting arrested for mutilation of public property." Kurama walked up and smoothly grabbed Link's elbow and pulled him into a standing position. Joey just turned, now in the loop of what was going on. He just scratched the back of his neck nervously, laughing a bit at Link.

"Thanks, Kurama!" Link smiled goofily.

"Right…" Kurama just put his hands back in his pockets and the girls walked up to them.

"Where do we go now?" Aya asked, looking around at the now lively Castle Town.

"Hm, perhaps we should go check up on Kakariko Village?" Kurama suggested.

"Oh, yeah." Link threw his hands in the air. "Oh! We can check to see if Zelda honored Dark Link like she promised!"

"Well, we'll check the graveyard then, won't we?" Kaori smiled. The six left the Castle Town and quickly made it to the small village, which was also as lively as it used to be. Striding past the poor cucco lady and the windmill, they walked through the small, narrow passage into the graveyard. Nothing seemed to have changed about it, not even the constant storm that seemed to rain over it everyday. The giant tablet in the front commemorating the souls of Hyrule stood tall in the front and the little boy with the stick and zombie mask still wandered around.

"Well, everything looks in place." Joey looked around. "Well…not like you can change dead people or anything."

"Thanks for the pleasant sentiment, Joey." Katara sighed.

"What? It's true!" Joey protested.

"Right." Kurama continued walking and everyone else followed. Walking to the back of the graveyard where the Royal Family's burial grounds were, they saw the tomb closed back up (where they had gotten the Sun's Song).

"Here it is! Here it is!!" Link suddenly cheered. "She made a grave! She made a grave for Dark Link!"

"…" everyone stared at it. It wasn't a fancy memorial or anything. Something about Dark Link/Yami said that he wouldn't anything big and flashy. Instead it was a simple tombstone, a white marble, with his "name" etched in "Yami" not "Dark Link". It had no birth date or date of death. Instead it said "unknown". There was a simple picture of the Triforce, and a small passage written in saying "Here lies a young man, who, though mysterious, helped the Royal Family indescribable ways. May he finally rest in peace with the Goddesses….And may he finally have come to the answer he sought so deeply."

"It fits him." Aya said. "We didn't know him that well, but he seemed like the simple type."

"I'm happy." Link smiled. "He helped a lot. I'm happy Zelda lived up to her promise."

"Right. We all are." Kaori nodded.

"Shall we just rest here tonight?" Kurama turned. "I believe we all have a lot to contemplate, right?"

"Right." Link smiled. "Oh, wait…What was I going to ask you…Oh…I know I knew it…Oh…Yeah!! Right!! What did you all do with the Triforce?"

"Oh, we have to explain that." Kaori sighed. "We split it apart."

"Oh, you did?" Link finally took notice the Triforce brand still on his hand. "So, it won't be together again?"

"Well, we don't want this to happen again." Kaori said. "We split it apart so that you, Zelda, and Ganondorf kept your pieces. That's how it'll be and that's what we're going to make sure happens!"

"Okay!!" Link nodded. "I'll go along with it and say it's a good idea! I'm sure it is…but…whatever! It doesn't matter anymore!!"

"Yes, Link, its fine." Kurama sighed.

_A little while later…_

The party had split off in pairs, and over half they day had gone by since then. At that point, it was almost sunset. Joey and Katara had gone off probably to yell at each other some more, seeing as how they apparently didn't do that enough. Kaori and Link had gone off somewhere, and the remaining two, Aya and Kurama, had gone off on their own.

"So, about what Katara said." Kurama and Aya had gone back to the quiet spot behind the potion shop (now someone's house, but who really cared about that detail). "How far should I delve into this?"

"What do you mean?" Aya leaned against the wall. "I guess I already know…"

"It saves me the trouble of explaining myself." Kurama smiled. "I trust you already know I feel and vice versa."

"It's pretty obvious." Aya shrugged. "I figured that out at the Fire Temple."

"Hm. It was quite obvious then, wasn't it?" Kurama laughed.

"Yeah, kind of. We established that the kiss was really good, too." Aya smiled. Kurama just laughed a bit. "Right. I'm honest though, Aya. I really do…how should I put this…saying 'like you' doesn't quite fit me."

"We really, really enjoy each other's company?" Aya suggested. "I mean, that seems fitting enough, right?"

"Right." Kurama nodded. "Shall we leave it at that, and just 'enjoy each other's company' then?"

"Sounds like fun to me." Aya smiled.

"Good." Kurama smiled again. He seemed appreciative of the fact that Aya and he were already well established. The lack of dramatic confessions seemed to be very comforting. Granted, neither he nor Aya were very dramatic people. So, they both just seemed comfortable just in each other's presence, sitting there is some secluded space behind the former potion-shop-now-someone's-house.

"Do you like being stuck here? Well…let me reword that. Do you like having to live here?" Aya turned.

"Well, I guess part of me worries about how my world will function without me." Kurama looked down a bit. "I guess if I have to live somewhere, it's with people I like on a world that I've taken a shine to."

"Ditto. At least we're in it together, right?" Aya looked up.

"Right." Kurama nodded. "Shall we go eat? I believe that, logically speaking, we haven't eaten a day or two."

"No wonder my stomach won't shut up." Aya said.

"Right." Kurama placed light hand on Aya's should as they walked off to some place to eat, simple but good enough.

_So…To our favorite spacey pairing, folks…_

Kaori was dragged back up the roof of some building against her will, and she was, once again, not very happy about that. Link was on the edge of the room, arms outspread, and a goofy look gracing his features. He almost fell, but caught his balance and grabbed his hat before it fell.

"Link, don't fall. That would kind of suck." Kaori had a hand on her chin, arm on her knee to prop it up. She seemed to be getting used to being dragged off to ridiculous heights, but she still didn't seem very happy about it.

"Do you think we'll find Navi?" Link asked, looking out at Kakariko.

"If you want to look for her, we can." Kaori suggested. "We can make that our next mission."

"I don't want to find her if she doesn't want to be found." Link seemed sad for moment.

"We'll worry about that later. Let's just take a break, okay?" Kaori sighed, exasperated. "I'm still tired from all of that. Breaking the Triforce takes so much energy!"

"I'm glad you split it up though. It keeps Hyrule from going through that again!" Link smiled. "Now, two thirds of the Triforce are with…nice people and the bad third is sealed away!"

"We figured that you and Zelda could handle it." Kaori chimed. There was a silence.

"You know? I'm really, really happy right now!" Link turned his head. "I mean, we finally did what we had to and none of you died! I still have my friends! I still have you!"

"Link, why me especially?" Kaori prodded a bit.

"Why you? Hm…I really, really like you, Kaori!" Link smiled goofily. "I mean, why wouldn't I be happy to have you around! You make me really happy, Kaori!"

"Uh…well. That's good." Kaori took that as her answer. "You make me happy, too, Link."

"Really?" Link plopped himself down next to her.

"Really."

"Okay!" Link then proceeded to embrace Kaori in one of his infamous bear hugs.

_Yay…The next morning?_

The next day, the party had officially collected themselves, and they finished their makeshift meal outside of Kakariko Village. Now, they stood at the entrance, figuring out what to do.

"Well…what do pointless travelers like us do when we don't have a mission to accomplish?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, what do homeless travelers like us do in their free time?" Aya asked. "We never had free time on that journey. And we're all here, so we might as well do something."

"I don't know." Link pondered as far as his fragile mind could take him.

"You know, with all the money we earned during that journey, and the titles we still have, you know, we could probably earn enough to get something here in Kakariko Village, you know?" Katara suggested. "We just have some stuff to first, right?"

"Of course!" Link cheered. "I've got it!"

"He didn't hear a word I just said." Katara sighed loudly.

"You know what I've always wanted to do?" Link asked, a stupid look on his face as usual. "I want to fish!"

"Fish?" there was a collective silence.

"I had a dream about flying purple fish last night and I decided I want to fish at the lake to see if I could catch a purple fish!" Link explained. "So, I can say I caught a purple fish!"

"Well, you realize that Lake Hylia is forever and a day away." Aya asked.

"It's worth the trip!" Kaori agreed. "I've never fished before! We should go!"

"Mention animals and Kaori's all for it." Aya said. "I can't protest now."

"I don't mind either way." Kurama agreed.

"Fish? Sure!" Joey pumped a fist.

"Yay." Katara twirled a finger.

"Good, let's go do something that doesn't have to do with saving the world!" Kaori cheered.

"Yay!" Link began walking in the opposite direction of Lake Hylia.

"Wrong direction." The rest of the party said in unison.

"Huh?" Link turned and fell over.

"That direction." Kurama pointed. "The Lake is that direction."

"Oh, onward!!" Link ran in the direction Kurama pointed.

"You realize there's a way to get to Lake Hylia through Zora's Domain that's tons easier, right?" Joey turned to the redhead.

"Yes, I'm fully aware of that. But let's not spoil his fun." Kurama responded.

"He's too stupid to realize otherwise." Aya said.

"Yay, I just fell into a bush and found a potion bottle!" Link cheered goofily. "Go me!"

"Right, Link." Kaori just sighed. "I guess we do need potion bottles."

So, the party, potion bottle in tow, began the somewhat long trip to Lake Hylia. For once, it wasn't to break a curse or save the world from the incarnation of evil. They were traveling to Lake Hylia to fish. Not just because Link had a funky dream about it, but so that they could say they were doing something that wouldn't be a factor in the fate of the world.

Being a hero was a stressful job; after all…What's a little wind-down time for the heroes of Hyrule, after all?

**A/n:** So, there you have it folks. Sorry, but the group going back to Zelda after it was all said and done didn't seem to fit where I had this story and its characters. We're just going to remain content with the fact that Zelda kept her promises. The ending to this story seemed rather simple.

Now, to thank EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, for the support and reviews that I've gotten for this story. Seriously, I'm just ecstatic that I got over one hundred reviews. That's enough to satisfy me. Sorry for the long lulls between updates due internet difficulties, school, work, or some other sort of road block. I appreciate all who have even bother reading this story, even if they didn't review. So, uh, thanks to the dudes who are those unmarked "hits", too. At least someone reads this thing.

Thanks again! Um, the Majora's Mask sequel will come around eventually, just not right now.

Oh, and about my other two stories, _Rose Petals in the Darkness_ and _Fallen From Grace_, don't expect updates on those any times soon. They're pretty much on hiatus. I think I'll focus my attention back on one-shots for awhile. But before that I'm going to go through and re-edit and re-post some of the early chapters, to this story. But it's complete, and that's what matters.

Final time y'all will hear this "REVIEW!!"


	55. Public Service Announcment

**A/n:** Okay, so here is my public service announcement. I had some people who read this story when it was still going on, and some people who are still checking this story out. So, I figured this is best way to do this. I am doing a complete revamp of this story- all the chapters are eventually going to be edited. I figured this story deserves it.

I started this story when I was a freshman in high school, back in the day when my writing skills were positively horrendous. I'm in the summer going into my sophomore year of college, and looking back, I thought that this story deserved some TLC. I'm happy with out this story turned out, really I am. But I figured it just needs a little revising. So I'm rewriting almost all my early chapters and editing the rest so that this story has writing styles that match (the last chapter is a lot more detailed that the first chapter, and so).

I've already started and the first two chapters are up in their brand, spankin' new revised form. Hooray.

So…Go. Enjoy my revising.


	56. YAY ANOTHER ANNOUNCMENT

**A/n**: I'm just popping into say that I am _sorta kinda_ continuing the revamp of this story. School and real life got in the way. However, now that summer is coming up and I have a new job on the weekends, I should be able to continue this soon, for the most part.

Chapter 15 has been renamed and revamped, btw. :3

SO HAPPY STORY TIME YAY.


	57. IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENT

**A/n:**

Hello invisible fanbase. I come bearing yet another public service announcement. This time? I'm coming regarding the status of this story. The truth? I have no idea about this story. The main bump I keep running into is character dynamic, ruined by Kaori in particular.

Kaori is a character I'm ashamed of. She's too Mary Sue-ish and her personality is just so flat and boring. I've done _everything_ in my power to try and make her an interesting character. I've messed with her personality, I've tried to give her moments, I've tried to tweak her character and I keep running into a wall EVERY TIME. I feel like I'm just squeezing her into conversations and that her interactions with other characters are awkward, even Aya, who's supposedly her best friend.

I try to make her spunky, but she ends up too much like Katara. And if I try to make her snarky on any level, she messes up Aya. She has no chemistry at ALL with Link and I'm well aware of how their relationship treads into 'OH I BARELY KNOW YOU BUT I LOVE YOU' territory. If I could go back in time, I would eliminate her from the story entirely. But I can't. She is very much what Tvtropes might describe as a "satellite character". She's just…there. I could kill her off, but you know what? She's so boring and insufferable that I don't think it would affect the plot or emit enough tragic reaction out of anyone. Navi would probably just be like 'OH GOOD SHE'S GONE LETS MOVE ON NOW."

I hate myself a million times for ever creating an insufferable Mary Sue character like that. Flog me with a wooden stick. Just do it.

I'm running into some snags with the story aside from that. I'm kinda bored with it and the fact that I hate one of my characters makes it hard for me to continue writing. I can't take her out now, and I don't want to go through and edit the story again to take her out of it, you know? I have NO idea when I'll continue the revamp or _if_ I'll continue the revamp. I'm thinking I should put my efforts into something more…productive, maybe? I don't know. There are aspects of this story that are a giant eyesore to me and remind me too much of my high school/middle school days when I wasn't that good at writing. Days I'd rather forget.

So…Uh….HIATUS YAY.


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